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Immigration, KPK under fire over Harun escape
With the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician and graft suspect Harun Masiku still at liberty, the Law and Human Rights Ministry has removed Ronny Sompie from his post as immigration director general pending the outcome of an investigation by an independent team that will examine the misinformation from that office that hampered the hunt for the suspect
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span>With the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician and graft suspect Harun Masiku still at liberty, the Law and Human Rights Ministry has removed Ronny Sompie from his post as immigration director general pending the outcome of an investigation by an independent team that will examine the misinformation from that office that hampered the hunt for the suspect.
Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly said on Tuesday that a joint team would probe what had led to the false information from the immigration office that had stated that Harun was in Singapore, when he had in fact already returned to Indonesia when the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) began searching for him.
The joint team will consist of members of the National Police, the Communications and Information Ministry, the National Cyber and Encryption Agency and the Indonesian Ombudsman.
“[Ronny’s removal] is to prevent any conflict of interest that may hamper the investigation,” Yasonna said at the State Palace.
Harun is accused of giving Rp 600 million (US$43,950) in bribes to General Elections Commission (KPU) member Wahyu Setiawan in his alleged attempt to secure a spot as a lawmaker. Despite both having been named suspects, the antigraft body has only managed to arrest Wahyu while Harun remains at large.
Tempo magazine previously reported that Harun had left for Singapore on Jan. 6 but returned to Indonesia the next day, via Soekarno-Hatta International Airport both ways, indicating that Harun was already in Indonesia when the KPK named him a suspect in the case.
Ronny, a retired police general, became the center of controversy when he, as the director general of immigration, said Harun was still in Singapore on Jan. 13, prompting Yasonna to release the same information.
The statements later led to a backlash as allegations flared that Yasonna, who is also a PDI-P politician, tried to hide the suspect.
The immigration authorities initially denied that Harun had returned to Indonesia, but later conceded that he had in fact arrived in the country.
At the time of writing, no law enforcement body, including the KPK, had located Harun.
The antigraft body is also in hot water for failing to find him.
“The KPK’s failure to arrest Harun only emphasizes its inability to resolve the case,” Kurnia Ramadhana of Indonesia Corruption Watch told The Jakarta Post.
He further questioned the competence of the new KPK leaders as this is the first time for the agency to fail to catch a graft suspect. Kurnia said in the past the KPK had managed to arrest Democratic Party politician Muhammad Nazaruddin despite the suspect having fled abroad for months.
Zaenur Rohman, a researcher at Gadjah Mada University’s Center for Anticorruption Studies (Pukat UGM) echoed Kurnia, stressing that the KPK’s inability to track Harun down was an indication that its performance in solving corruption cases had diminished.
Such a situation was also exacerbated by the fact that the KPK was not transparent enough in revealing to the public its progress in the case.
“I don’t understand why the KPK has been so sluggish in finding and arresting the main suspect in the case,” he said. “This situation will lead to the public not having much faith anymore in the KPK’s ability to resolve any corruption case,” Zaenur added.
House of Representatives Commission III overseeing law and human rights grilled KPK chairman Firli Bahuri during a hearing on Monday about the antigraft body’s inability to catch Harun.
“How can the KPK not be able to arrest Harun even though he’s been missing for around three weeks? I believe that the KPK had the capability to arrest him and already knew his whereabouts but opted not to reveal them,” said Democratic Party politician Benny K. Harman.
He alleged that the KPK was being controlled by the PDI-P to halt the bribery investigation.
NasDem Party politician Taufik Basari said public trust in the agency had collapsed because of the case.
“This question surrounding Harun’s whereabouts has caused the public to doubt the KPK’s ability to continue the case investigation. The KPK needs to prove its independence in handling the case and probe the possibility of the immigration authorities obstructing the KPK’s efforts to catch Harun,” Taufik said.
KPK chief Firli Bahuri said that finding Harun was difficult, insisting that his institution had no intention of protecting Harun.
He went on to defend himself by listing the efforts that had been made to find Harun, including visiting Harun’s house in South Sulawesi to gather information regarding his whereabouts from his wife and in-laws while at the same time asking the National Police to issue an arrest warrant for Harun.
“Why would we do that [hide Harun]? Why does everyone keep on saying that we’re hiding Harun despite the many efforts that have been made [by The KPK] to find him? We have no reason to do so,” Firli said. (glh)
