Indonesia president sidesteps action on corruption case
Posted: 24 November 2009 0258 hrs

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JAKARTA: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday sidestepped advice from his own fact-finding team to punish senior law enforcers over a huge corruption scandal that has gripped the nation.

The liberal ex-general has been under intense pressure to sack top police and prosecutors and drop their allegedly bogus criminal case against senior anti-graft investigators from the respected corruption watchdog.

In a nationally televised speech, Yudhoyono pledged reform to the justice system but insisted he could not interfere in the legal process, even though he admitted the public had lost trust in the judicial system.

"I'm not allowed to, and will not, enter this area because stopping investigations is the domain of the investigating body, the police, and ending prosecutions is the domain of prosecutors," he said.

But because of the public distrust in the legal system and the threat posed by the scandal to "social unity", he said the "better option and solution ... is for the police and prosecutors not to bring this case to court".

His fact-finding team had recommended disciplinary action against law enforcers implicated in the conspiracy, and the withdrawal of all criminal allegations against the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputies.

KPK deputy heads Bibit Samad Riyanto and Chandra Hamzah still face charges of bribery and abuse of power which the team has decided had been "forced" through with flimsy evidence and must be dropped.

Police and prosecutors have not yet said if they will withdraw the case in response to the president's speech.

Yudhoyono's comments bewildered anti-corruption activists who had been hoping he would seize his mandate, renewed in a landslide election in July, to genuinely crack down on the scourge of corruption in Indonesia.

Instead he said he had instructed the Attorney General's Office, the police and the KPK - the alleged victim of the conspiracy - to carry out "disciplining, tidying and repairs", without offering any details.

He also denied "very hurtful" accusations that the alleged campaign to cripple the KPK was linked to his election campaign finances and a controversial decision to bail out a troubled bank.

Explosive KPK wiretaps played in court earlier this month apparently caught senior police and prosecutors conspiring with the brother of a corruption suspect to frame the KPK deputies, fuelling weeks of public outrage.

Yudhoyono has promised to stamp out the "court mafia" he admitted had been exposed by the tapes, but the chief detective allegedly at the centre of the conspiracy is back in his post after a very brief suspension from duty.

As for the 710-million-dollar bailout of the failed Bank Century, he said he welcomed plans for investigations by parliament and law enforcement agencies.

The country's top auditor earlier in the day said he had found indications of "violations" in the bailout and recommended a full investigation.

"I really want openness and accountability to be upheld together. I want to keep away all the slander by providing evidence," Yudhoyono said.

Supporters of the two accused KPK deputies reacted with bewilderment at Yudhoyono's statement.

They said it did little to solve a dispute seen as a key test of whether the president supports anti-graft efforts against the alleged "court mafia" he has vowed to destroy in the first 100 days of his second term.

"We don't get the point of what the president said at all," said Taufik Basari, a lawyer for Riyanto and Hamzah.

"I'm confused, what is the decision exactly? He gave us some clues but there's nothing to hold on to at all." - AFP/de