Heru Andriyanto, Calmelia Pasandaran & Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – As bizarre incidents continue to crop up and overshadow the notorious tax mafia scandal involving Gayus Tambunan, his lawyer on Monday called on the antigraft commission to take over the case from police and prosecutors.
Veteran lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution said he had lost confidence in the ongoing legal proceedings against his client, and questioned whether the court was even interested to locate and thoroughly probe those behind Gayus's enormous wealth.
Adnan suggested that the tax embezzlement scandal centering on Gayus was more and more becoming about the figure of Gayus today, instead of about Gayus's dealings in past years – squirreling away huge amounts of money handed over to him as bribes, allegedly by large corporations attempting to evade taxes.
Adnan further pointed out that the trial was failing to probe the origins of Rp 28 billion ($3.1 million) found in the defendant's personal bank accounts, let alone demand those who paid Gayus this money to testify.
"We cannot expect [the bribers] in court, when [police] never even interrogated them. The case is better off handed over to the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission]," Adnan said.
"I was confident in the beginning that the independent [police] team would uncover the entire case, but now the case has been dwarfed [by other scandals], I have lost confidence."
Photographs taken by the Jakarta Globe recently found Gayus – sporting a wig and glasses – attending an international tennis tournament in Bali, even as the graft defendant is supposed to be in police detention during the course of his trial.
Police eventually admitted that Gayus had bribed his way out and stayed with his extended family at Bali's Westin Hotel from Nov. 4-6. The scandal has captivated the nation's attention even more than the Gayus trial.
Adnan said prosecutors can't pretend Gayus's money doesn't exist, and the court probe should at least uncover his accounts and safe deposit boxes as well, which reportedly contained gold ingots and other valuables worth some Rp 70 billion. "His wealth didn't fall from the sky, you know," the lawyer said.
In Monday's hearing, presiding judge Albertina Ho ordered prosecutors to transfer Gayus to the high-security Cipinang Penitentiary.
"The panel considers the detention facility [at the National Police's mobile brigade headquarters in Depok, West Java], not 'conducive' and we order prosecutors to transfer the defendant to the Cipinang Penitentiary," said Albertina, adding that the orders were effective immediately. Gayus was promptly transferred on Monday.
Speaking separately, legislator Anis Matta from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) said the antigraft commission should take over the Gayus case because of allegations that some police officers might have been bribed by Gayus. However, Trimedya Panjaitan, a fellow lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the KPK should supervise police rather than take over the case.
Trimedya said police had "already investigated the case for more than two months" and they should be given a chance to finish it.
Separately, the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force said it had yet to find any evidence of Gayus meeting with Golkar Party tycoon Aburizal Bakrie during his visit to Bali.
"We have not seen any relations," Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, head of the task force, said at the Vice-Presidential Palace on Monday. Kuntoro added that the task force has already looked into how Gayus got to Bali, including his companions, where he slept and the means of transportation he used.
Bakrie himself has denied rumors that he met the former tax official in Bali, speaking of political intrigue merely designed to weaken his party ahead of the 2014 elections.