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Capital punishment proposal for graft convicts raises eyebrows over sentence disparity
The Attorney General Office’s (AGO) plan to seek capital punishment for corruptors implicated in two of Indonesia’s largest graft cases has been met with raised eyebrows from experts and antigraft activists, who highlighted the prosecutors’ office inconsistent stance for indicting graft suspects in the past.
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In the spotlight: Defendant in a graft case involving state insurance company PT Asuransi Jiwasraya, Beny Tjokrosaputro, waves to the media during his trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court on June 3, 2020. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
T
he Attorney General Office’s (AGO) plan to seek capital punishment for corruptors implicated in two of Indonesia’s largest graft cases has been met with raised eyebrows from experts and antigraft activists, who highlighted the prosecutors’ office inconsistent stance on indicting graft suspects in the past.
Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanudin made headlines last week after announcing his intent to seek capital punishment for suspects accused of embezzling trillions of rupiah from state-owned insurance companies PT Asuransi Jiwasraya and PT Asabri – the latter of the two manages insurance and pension funds for the military, the police and employees of the Defense Ministry.
In a statement on Oct. 28, AGO spokesperson Leonard Eben Ezer Simanjuntak said Sanitiar was mulling over seeking a capital punishment indictment for the defendants in the cases to “provide a sense of justice” in the prosecution of the case, citing the widespread impact of the malfeasance.
“Naturally, its implementation must be in accordance with prevailing positive law and values of human rights,” Leonard said as quoted by kompas.com.
The losses from the Jiwasraya case, which implicated tycoon Benny TJokrosaputro, among other suspects, was estimated at Rp 16.8 trillion (US$1.17 billion). The Asabri case, meanwhile, was estimated to incur Rp 22.78 trillion in state losses.
As of October, the AGO has named at least 20 suspects in the Jiwasraya case, six of whom have been convicted by the Jakarta Corruption Court, while the remaining 14 suspects were standing trial. The prosecutors’ office had also named at least 23 suspects for the Asabri Case.
Read also: Jiwasraya: Understanding Indonesia's largest financial scandal
