Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Amid political bickering in the House of Representatives over a plan to impeach the vice president, the nation's antigraft chief said politics was undermining the fight against corruption.
"Political issues are difficult to avoid. They hamper efforts to stop the abuse of state funds," Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chair Busyro Muqoddas said Friday.
His statement came following the renewed attempt by several legislators to push the House of Representatives to pursue the Bank Century case further, which could lead to the impeachment of Vice President Boediono who may be culpable in the case. This move is possible due to a Constitutional Court ruling that lowered the quorum required to initiate a House inquiry.
The KPK has been criticized for allegedly dragging its feet in the investigations of three politically charged cases: The Bank Indonesia (BI) vote-buying case, the Bank Century bailout and the tax mafia case surrounding Gayus H. Tambunan.
The KPK has named 25 former and current legislators as suspects in the vote-buying case from the 2004 election of Miranda S. Goeltom as BI's senior deputy governor. More than half of the suspects are politicians from the government's opposition party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). Its senior politician, Panda Nababan, is accused of receiving Rp 1.45 billion (US$160,950) in bribes.
The PDI-P has not decided whether it will join the move to impeach Boediono.
KPK spokesman Johan Budi told The Jakarta Post on Friday that the 25 suspects would be brought to court for prosecution next month.
The commission has so far failed to summon Nunun Nurbaeti, the wife of Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician and former National Police deputy chief Adang Daradjatun. She is considered a key witness in the case.
On Thursday, the KPK questioned BI deputy governors Hartadi A Sarwono and Budi Rochadi, who had vied with Miranda in the 2004 vote, as witnesses. On June 8, 2004, 54 legislators voted on the central bank post, with Miranda receiving 41 votes, Budi 12 and Hartadi one vote.
Regarding the Bank Century bailout scandal, legislators have lambasted the commission for failing to name a single suspect. As of today, the KPK has failed to find any indication of corruption in the Rp 6.7 trillion debacle. "The KPK is conducting a thorough preliminary investigation of the case," Johan said.
The politically charged inquiry into the Bank Century case divided the government's ruling coalition in 2010, and forced former finance minister Sri Mulyani, who was critical of the abuse of political power, to resign from her post.
The antigraft body is currently studying the Gayus case and looking into the possibility of a case against the companies that allegedly bribed the notorious taxman. Gayus has said they included several firms linked to powerful politician Aburizal Bakrie.
"We will look into the allegations that several companies bribed Gayus in order to avoid paying taxes," Busyro said Thursday.
Busyro said law enforcement should be independent, but in reality was influenced by many things, including politics. He added that several government policies seemed designed to benefit particular groups.