Heru Andriyanto – Prosecutors who handled the case of tax official Gayus Tambunan at the Tangerang District Court still have not been implicated in wrongdoing, even as a judge was declared a bribery suspect.
Police found a suspicious Rp 28 billion ($3 million) in the mid-level official's bank accounts, but he was acquitted of embezzlement charges by the court on March 12.
Police apparently have no immediate plan to arrest prosecutors involved despite the testimony of police Comr. Arafat Enanie. At a disciplinary tribunal on Wednesday, Arafat said he had met with lead prosecutor Cirus Sinaga and his colleague Fadil Regan to "coordinate efforts" in the case.
After the meeting, "the prosecutors dropped the money-laundering and corruption charges," Arafat said. "They only used the embezzlement charge. Gayus's lawyer set up the meeting."
Gayus was eventually acquitted by Judge Muhtadi Asnun, who was declared a suspect on Thursday for allegedly taking Rp 50 million ($5,500) from the tax man.
"Arafat's testimony should serve as the door to find the missing link in the thorough post-trial measures by police. The missing link is the prosecution team, who deserve more than the internal disciplinary sanctions by the Attorney General's Office," said Andri Gunawan, secretary general of the nongovernmental Indonesian Judicial Watch Society (Mappi).
"Police have implicated people starting from the rear end, namely lawyers who arranged payment to law enforcers who handled the case, to policemen in the middle who brought the case against Gayus, and to the front end, namely the presiding judge," he told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday. "Even Gayus has been renamed as suspect. So how come they missed the prosecution members?"
He said the public could not rely on the AGO to take action against its own, especially after the office repeatedly said it had done enough by imposing sanctions ranging from written reprimands to demotions to as many as 12 prosecutors who handled the case.
When notified about Arafat's testimony on Wednesday, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said he would let police decide further action. "It depends on police whether a crime was committed," Hendarman said.
According to the law, police need approval from the attorney general to summon prosecutors as suspects, unless they are caught red-handed committing a crime.