Now Go After Other Fugitives: Activists

Now Go After Other Fugitives: Activists

Anita Rachman & Elisabeth Oktofani

Two prominent corruption watchdogs applauded on Tuesday the arrest of high-profile graft suspect Muhammad Nazaruddin but questioned why law enforcers were slow to capture other fugitives.

Adnan Topan Husodo, deputy chairman of Indonesia Corruption Watch, said arresting Nazaruddin would have been much harder than going after other fugitive suspects, such as businesswoman Nunun Nurbaeti Daradjatun.

“Nunun still has family here. Her husband is here,” Adnan said. “She must be contacting them, and [the communications] could actually be traced.”

Adnan added that Nazaruddin’s arrest was the result of good collaboration between officials at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the National Police and Interpol, as well as the use of sophisticated technology to pinpoint his exact location.

Attempts at similar cooperation had proved fruitless with Nunun, Adnan said.

Boyamin Saiman, chairman of the Indonesian Anti-Corruption Society (Maki), said that unlike Nunun, who has remained quiet, Nazaruddin chose to attack his colleagues in the Democratic Party, attracting the attention of the party’s leader, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Adnan questioned why Yudhoyono specifically instructed law enforcers to bring Nazaruddin back to the country but mentioned no other suspects in his speech.

Yunarto Wijaya, a political analyst from Charta Politika, said the government did not appear interested in arresting corruptors outside of Indonesia.

“What is required is political will from the government to enforce the law, which will pressure law enforcers to take prompt action,” he said.

Rp 823b DPD Building Plans Draw Suspicion of Corruption

Rp 823b DPD Building Plans Draw Suspicion of Corruption

Anticorruption watchdogs accused the Regional Representative Council of budgeting Rp 517.2 billion ($60.5 million) more than necessary for their planned regional offices on Thursday.

The council, also known as the DPD, is in the process of building 33 four-story regional offices across several provinces at a total cost of Rp 823 billion, a sum that was approved in the 2010 state budget.

However, Firdaus Ilyas, Indonesia Corruption Watch’s budget coordinator, said the DPD had requested exorbitantly large office rooms for its members, leading to the project’s high price tag.

“According to our calculations, the DPD office building only needs a 1,799.55 square meter space, while they requested an area as large as 2,747.25 square meters,” Firdaus said.

“Each representative does not need a 100 square meter office [as was allocated], but only 16 square meters.”

The smaller space, he said, would drastically reduce the total cost of construction to Rp 305.57 billion, or an average of Rp 9.3 billion per building.

“Based on our calculations, DPD DKI Jakarta, for example, would only need Rp 9.8 billion,” Firdaus said.

ICW researcher Apung Widadi said the glaring markup should be a signal to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to investigate whether there is corruption behind the DPD’s building plan.

House of Representatives speaker Marzuki Alie has slammed the project as exorbitant, noting it had a higher cost per square meter of development than a planned office tower built in Jakarta for legislators, which the legislature was forced to shelve following a massive outcry over the Rp 1.13 trillion price tag.

DPD representatives could not be reached for comment on Thursday, but DPD secretary general Siti Nurbaya has said that the plan to construct the new buildings is based on recommendations made by the Ministry of Public Works, and a markup would therefore be impossible.

The DPD is ready to be monitored by the KPK, DPD deputy speaker La Ode Ida said.

Century Defendant Claims She’s Taking the Fall

Century Defendant Claims She’s Taking the Fall

A former senior Bank Century employee whose criminal case has drawn considerable public attention since her blogger daughter published a heartfelt plea on her behalf, in her closing statement to the Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday claimed she was just doing her job.

Arga Tirta Kirana, the since rebranded bank’s former corporate legal division head, denied being ultimately responsible for the disbursement of credit to shady companies without going through the proper procedures while she was working for Bank Century in 2009.

The prosecution is seeking a 10-year jail term and a Rp 10 billion ($1.1 million) fine.

Arga, mother of teenage writer and activist Alanda Kariza, 19, told the court: “I am not the one who is responsible in this case nor have I benefited from it.”

During her 20-minute testimony, Arga claimed she was being made a scapegoat to divert attention from the main issues surrounding the bailout process.

“I have been tyrannized. Hermanus [Hasan Muslim] and Robert Tantular are the ones who are responsible. Why is my sentence demand harsher than theirs? Is the judicial mafia behind this?” Arga said. “I have been set up so I can take the fall.”

Tantular, the disgraced former co-owner of the bank, since renamed Bank Mutiara, was sentenced to nine years in jail, while Hermanus, a former director, received six years.

Arga said she was only following orders at the time the credit was handed out and added that “Hermanus and Robert were looking for somebody to take the fall for the problematic disbursement of funds from the Deposit Insurance Agency [LPS] to Bank Century.”

Arga pleaded with the judge to consider the fate of her children.

“I hope, Your Honor, that you will follow your conscience in reaching your verdict. Nothing worries me more than the fate of my daughters. The youngest is 5 years old and still in kindergarten, my second daughter is 8 years old and the oldest is 19 and still in college. My husband is jobless after being fired from Bank Century in 2008,” she said.

After the hearing, Arga’s lawyer Humphrey Djemat told the Jakarta Globe that his client was merely doing her job as instructed by her employers. “She was asked by her boss to dole out funds to companies which later proved to be fake. But she did not know at the time these companies were fake. So she signed the credit facility documents using her name,” he said.

Purportedly bogus firms Wibowo Wadah Rejeki and Accent Investindo Indonesia received Rp 121.3 billion and Rp 60 billion, respectively, in loans.

“We are seeking justice for [Arga],” Humphrey said.

“Robert as well as Hermanus should take responsibility for their actions instead of trying to make an ordinary employee who knew nothing about what they were up to take the fall.”