Heru Andriyanto – The previously obscure case of a tax official tried for embezzlement at the Tangerang District Court turned into a national issue after former National Police chief detective Susno Duadji publicly accused his colleagues of receiving bribes from that very man, allegations that have received substantial attention from the National Police and the Attorney General's Office.
The tax officer in question, Gayus Tambunan, had a Rp 25 billion ($2.75 million) bank account. He ended up being acquitted of embezzlement, but Susno has claimed that three senior National Police officials received bribes to halt an investigation of Gayus.
"It represents the face of the overall court proceedings here," said Andri Gunawan, secretary general of non-governmental group Indonesian Judicial Watch Society (Mappi).
Prosecutors opted to drop corruption and money-laundering charges related to the Rp 25 billion account at PT Bank Panin and recommended just a single year in jail for Gayus, saying he was guilty of embezzling a mere Rp 370 million he received from a Korean businessman.
"Given the amount of the disputed money and that top prosecutor Cirus Sinaga was appointed to lead the prosecution team in Tangerang, this was a major case. But the trial was unheard of until Susno came along," Andri said.
The panel, presided over by the court's chairman, Muhtadi Asnun, acquitted Gayus after only nine hearings between Jan. 13 and March 12, citing lack of evidence.
"The case began with a suspicious transaction of Rp 25 billion, but ended with prosecutors demanding a sentence for the embezzlement of petty cash," criminal-law expert Indrianto Seno Aji said on Tuesday. "This is a big question mark to all of us."
He said prosecutors and police did not work hard enough to track the money source and simply accepted claims by Gayus that it was intended for business and had nothing to do with his job as a civil servant.
The Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force on Tuesday met with top AGO officials to clarify reports of suspected corruption in prosecutors' handling of the case and revealed a plan for a similar meeting with National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri the next day.
"The AGO is currently examining the case documents to find out if the justice system was properly implemented" in the handling of the case, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said in a joint news conference with the task force after their meeting.
Asked whether a portion of the funds might have been channeled to the prosecution, Hendarman replied: "We will let the evidence speak for itself."
Hendarman added that an internal investigation had been undertaken by Suroso, director of legal methods and examinations at the AGO.
Task force chairman Kuntoro Mangkusubroto pledged to "take further measures so that justice is met for the people." But both men dismissed any immediate plan to hand the case to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) pending the results of an internal AGO investigation.
Susno has publicly said at least two generals in the National Police might have taken the money, identifying them by initials. The officers in question, Brig. Gen. Raja Erizman and Brig. Gen. Edmon Ilyas, have reported Susno to police alleging defamation.
In a document circulating among journalists, Raja asked the president director of PT Bank Panin to lift the freeze on Gayus' accounts because they had nothing to do with the criminal case and because prosecutors and police were investigating another account of Gayus' in a different bank.
In the letter classified as secret and dated Nov. 26, two days after Susno was dismissed as the chief of detectives, Raja told the Bank Panin director: "The evidence of the case is with another financial service provider, so the accounts...of Gayus Halomoan P Tambunan have no connection with the ongoing investigation. Accordingly the assets in those accounts can be reopened."
Raja at that time served as the director for special economic crimes at Susno's former office. The letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Jakarta Globe, also referred to the prosecutor's recommendation in asking that the freeze on the accounts to be lifted.