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KPK dumps cases as credibility slumps
The KPK has not publicly disclosed the list of cases for which investigations will be terminated, but they are likely to include some high-profile cases that the agency has sat on for months or even years without any sign they would be brought to court.
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Former youth and sports minister Imam Nahrawi walks to his seat before KPK prosecutor Ronald Worotikan reads out Imam’s indictment at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Feb 14. The antigraft agency is expected to see fewer trials as it plans to drop 36 cases due to lack of evidence. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
T
he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has revealed a plan to drop 36 investigations for lack of evidence in a move that is unlikely to shore up its already battered public image.
The KPK has not publicly disclosed the list of cases for which investigations will be terminated, but they are likely to include some high-profile cases that the agency has sat on for months or even years without any sign they would be brought to court. By definition, the KPK only deals with high-level corruption scandals.
The KPK has suffered huge credibility problems following a hastily enacted law governing its operation that effectively removed its independence and many of its tools, including wiretapping, to catch corruption convicts. To top it all, the House of Representatives, no friend of the KPK, named new commissioners in December who had already said they were not interested so much in persecuting cases as in preventing corruption.
The timing of the decision to drop the 36 cases may turn out to be misjudged. A new survey shows that the KPK, which had always enjoyed a high public image rating, has slumped to fourth place for the first time.
The survey by Indo Barometer said the KPK trailed behind the Indonesian Military (TNI), the President, and Islamic mass organizations Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah as the national institutions most trusted by the public.
“Usually the KPK always ranks in the top three, along with the President and the military,” Indo Barometer executive director Muhammad Qodari said.
The KPK’s public image took a further beating last month when it failed to solve the case of a little known but clearly highly connected politician in the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) who allegedly bribed the electoral commission to secure a vacant seat in the House. KPK chairman Firli Bahuri, a senior police officer, even fired the case’s lead investigators.
