Heru Andriyanto – A draft agreement was completed on Thursday to pave the way for the Commission on Public Prosecution to receive more power to monitor state attorneys' conduct.

"Among the key points in the agreement with the Attorney General's Office is that we can take over a case from the AGO whenever the internal measures against alleged violations by prosecutors are deemed insufficient," commission chairman Halius Hosen told the Jakarta Globe.

The previous membership of the commission was also allowed to take control of investigations against troubled prosecutors but at that time it was financially dependent on the AGO.

The new agreement could provide a separate budget for the nine-member commission. "Basically, the draft agreement contains procedures in the implementation of Presidential Decree No. 18/2011. The AGO and the commission have agreed with the draft and the signing is scheduled for [May 19]," he said.

The agreement would allow commission members to be present at discussions of major cases being handled by the AGO that gain wide public attention or at the AGO's internal deliberations on alleged violations of the law or the code of ethics by prosecutors. In addition to the new mandate, commission members would be eligible to join the Ethics Board in cases against prosecutors.

Indonesia Corruption Watch, however, warned against expecting too much of the better-armed commission, saying its six-year history had shown no concrete measures being taken against wayward prosecutors.

"Even in the current term, most of [the commission's] members are former prosecutors. So the question continues to center on its effectiveness," ICW senior member Emerson Yuntho said.

Despite the changes in its mandate stipulated in the presidential decree, the commission would still only provide recommendations to the president without having the power to take punitive measures itself, he said.

"What if the president or the attorney general refuses to implement the commission's recommendations?" Emerson added.

The decree was passed on March 4 as part of a push by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for more effective monitoring of the AGO, amid a series of scandals involving rogue prosecutors.