Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Attorney General Hendarman Supandji may have lost credibility among the public following a major bribery scandal implicating his deputies and other top prosecutors, but Vice President Jusuf Kalla has rejected calls to dismiss him.
Kalla said Hendarman was a "good man" with a high level of professionalism, including the fight against corruption within the Attorney General's Office (AGO).
"In my view, Hendarman is hard working and tough. Among the attorney generals, Hendarman is the one with the highest professionalism. He memorizes law articles in detail," he said.
Asked whether the government would dismiss Hendarman over the bribery scandal hitting his office, Kalla said, "If so, who would then take action to clean up the AGO".
"If staff make a mistake, it does not mean their leader is wrong too," he said.
The recent bribery trial of businesswoman Artalyta Suryani exposed the alleged roles of top AGO prosecutors in her case.
The Corruption Court heard taped "friendly" conversations between Artalyta with then deputy attorney general for special crimes Kemas Yahya Rachman and deputy attorney general for state administration Untung Udji Santoso.
The recording was used by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) as evidence against Artalyta, who is charged with bribing state prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan. Urip led an investigation into tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim in relation to the embezzlement of Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) funds, and Artalyta reportedly has ties to Sjamsul.
Urip was arrested just two days after the AGO dropped the BLBI cases against Sjamsul and another tycoon Anthony Salim on Feb. 29, 2008. The taped conversations angered anti-corruption activists who demanded President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono fire Hendarman.
The Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) also urged Yudhoyono to set up a special team to overhaul the AGO over internal corruption. It said the taped conversations should serve as an entry point to widen the investigations into corruption within the AGO.
The AGO is conducting an internal probe into the bribery case, having already questioned Untung, Kemas, deputy attorney general of intelligence Wisnu Subroto and investigation director Muhammad Salim. The investigation is led by deputy attorney general for internal affairs MS Rahardjo and supervised by the Attorney Commission.
Kalla also rejected calls for the government to involve outsiders in the internal probe to ensure its impartiality and to form a new attorney commission to reform the AGO.
The vice president said it was the job of the existing Attorney Commission to supervise the probe into the case and restore the AGO's image. "There are already too many commissions in the country. It is the job of the Attorney Commission to oversee the internal probe," he said
Hendarman had refused to step down to account for his alleged failure to make the AGO a credible institution.
"I will not resign because I have things to fix. I have nothing to do with this crime, so why should I quit? If I make a mistake, then it would be fine for me to step down."
"If I was considered a failure, how could it be? I'm still in the process of fixing the troubles. If eventually I cannot fix them, then you can call me a failure. I'm not protecting any one connected to the case. I'm independent," Hendarman said.
He called for the public to be patient in waiting for the results of the international investigation into the bribery case. "Of course, I'm really disappointed. Actually since Urip was arrested, I have publicly stated my disappointment. And now the case is evolving."