Heru Andriyanto – It started out as a common corruption case at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights uncovered by mid-ranking prosecutors.
But once the Rp 410 billion ($45.5 million) business registry Web site graft scandal began dragging down big names, it opened a Pandora's box of accusations and controversies, from multibillion rupiah bribery allegations and high-level blackmail to a battle between the country's most powerful tycoons and even a high-level debate over the legal standing of the attorney general.
No one could have imagined that Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana, the eldest daughter of the late President Suharto, would use the graft scandal as an opening to challenge media mogul Hary Tanoesoedibjo in her attempt to win back the TV station that she once owned, Televisi Pendidikan Indonesia (TPI).
Or that a second battlefront would open up around Former Justice Minister and Crescent Star Party (PBB) founder Yusril Ihza Mahendra over his alleged involvement in the Web site scandal.
When he was named a suspect in the case, Yusril wasted no time hitting back hard at Attorney General Hendarman Supandji, accusing him of illegally occupying his post.
The former minister also accused Hendarman of receiving money from the Web site and being blackmailed into naming him a suspect.
The case began simply enough in October 2008 when investigators revealed that a company running a ministry Web site selling registration permits to private firms across the country was pocketing 90 percent of the revenue and sharing the remaining 10 percent with a small group of ministry officials and staff.
The Attorney General's Office eventually took PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika, the company that built and ran the site, to court over the matter, accusing it of siphoning off revenue from the sale of business registration permits, causing a loss of at least Rp 410 billion to the state between 2001 and 2008.
Two former ministry officials and a former Sarana executive have already been jailed for their roles in the scandal.
Things started getting really messy when top officials and businesspeople – Yusril, Hartono Tanoesoedibjo, Sarana's founder and Hary's older brother – were implicated in the case.
Business battle
Just days after Hartono was named a suspect, Tutut further escalated the scandal by an n ouncing that she was reclaiming her former television station, TPI, and appointed new management to run the station.
TPI's involvement in the scandal stems from a deal made in 2002 that saw heavily indebted Tutut, then the sole owner of TPI, surrender 75 percent of her share in the station to Hary's company, PT Berkah Karya Bersama, in exchange for his help in managing and cleaning up her debt.
Over time, the partnership between the two soured for several reasons, but most notably, according to Tutut's attorney, Harry Ponto, because of Hary's plan to sell a portion of land in the 250-acre Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, a cultural park in East Jakarta, as a means of acquiring quick cash to rescue the foundering TPI.
Taman Mini was built by Tutut's mother, Tien Suharto, as a means of celebrating Indonesian culture, and, by specific request from the late Tien, was never intended for business purposes. Angered by his plan to sell part of the park, Tutut began trying to regain full control of TPI. She said in 2004 that she was determined to buy back all of Hary's investment in the station.
In March 2005, Tutut severed all relations with Hary and Berkah Karya Bersma and attempted to re-register the station under her name at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, but the online system provided by Sarana didn't accept her request, citing technical glitches.
However, when Hary's camp used the Web site permit registration system provided by older brother Hartono's company for the same purpose later that month, the system worked fine and Hary was listed as the authorized owner of TPI.
Tutut's camp has denied claims that her move to reclaim ownership of the station was linked to Hartono's case.
"Tutut reclaimed TPI because an internal inquiry by the ministry found that she was the legitimate owner. It has nothing to do with the naming of Hary's brother, Hartono, as a suspect," said her lawyer.
Tutut, who has largely withdrawn from politics and business since the May 1998 resignation of her father, found an unlikely ally in Yohanes Waworuntu, the former president director of Sarana who has been sentenced to five years' probation and fined more than Rp 350 billion in connection with the graft case.
"The Web site has become a cash cow for the family. Whenever they found themselves in financial trouble, they came to Sarana for cash," Yohanes told reporters at the AGO. "The revenue generated from the Web site went to the family's companies," he said.
In a recent interview, Hary said that his brother's graft case and Tutut's abrupt move to take over TPI were part of a conspiracy against his business empire, using people like Yohanes.
Political battle
The other major figure dragged down by the case, former Justice Minister Yusril, has stirred up his own set of controversie.
After claiming that Attorney General Hendarman was occupying his position illegally, Yusril told journalists on Friday he had been informed that the attorney general and State Secretary Sudi Silalahi had received $3 million from the ministry Web site.
Yusril claimed that he was named a suspect in the case after nearly two years of investigation only because Hendarman had bowed to pressure from lawmakers "who threatened to reveal the $3 million scandal" unless the former justice minister was implicated.
According to Yusril, Hendarman occupies his post illegally because he was never properly reinstalled to begin his second term last October. Yusril asserts that this makes all his actions as the sitting attorney general illegal.
To make things more complicated, all the seven suspects and those convicted in the case have been divided into four camps.
Yohanes, since being named a suspect in December 2008, has tried to drag the Tanoesoedibjos into the scandal by claiming that the brothers forced him to admit that he was in on the scandal.
He also claimed that, in an apparent attempt to avoid responsibility, the family had appointed a whole group of new employees at Sarana to the help cover the illegal flow of money to the family's companies.
Further, a former director general at the ministry under Yusril, Romli Atmasasmita, who was found guilty in connection with the case and is awaiting a Supreme Court decision on his appeal, has repeatedly said that Yusril should have been the first person to be named a suspect. Romli asserts he helped set up the online service on the direct order of Yusril.
Finally, if Yusril makes good on a promise this entire mess could be linked to yet another scandal: the as yet unresolved PT Bank Century bailout.
Yusril has claimed that he was named a suspect only to distract attention from the Rp 6.7 trillion bailout. "The powers that be are trying to distract the public," he said. "I won't let them get away with it. When the time comes, I'm going to tell everything I know about the bailout."
The public, meanwhile, waits to see what's next.