Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – After pulling up President Megawati Sukarnoputri, Indonesia's main audit body is flexing its muscles and plans to fire more shots this month at big names for their questionable wealth.
The move is likely to rile government officials and parliamentarians who have thrown their weight behind its closure.
Among the heavyweights the Commission to Investigate the Wealth of Public Servants (KPKPN) plans to summon for clarifications later this month are Parliament Speaker Akbar Tandjung, Chief Justice Bagir Manan and Mr Lalu Mariyun, the South Jakarta Court Judge who threw out former president Suharto's corruption case.
President Megawati's trusted party executive Roy B.B. Janis and National Assembly Deputy Speaker Ginandjar Kartasasmita are also in the commission's line of fire.
Although the body maintains that the summonses were merely "routine" to verify the assets these officials had declared, sources say they are perhaps not routine. These people had listed assets that far exceeded their supposed earnings.
Former Cabinet minister Ginandjar, for instance, reported that he owned assets worth 25.6 billion rupiah plus US$340,000 in cash, while Mr Akbar is said to have declared assets worth 33.4 billion rupiah.
The commission starts with questioning but a probe is activated if irregularities are detected.
It was a special investigation such as this which last week led to the questioning of Attorney General M.A. Rachman over allegations that he had not come clean about his wealth. Mr Rachman has denied any wrongdoing.
Late last year, President Megawati and her husband, legislator Taufik Kiemas, came under the commission's scrutiny over allegations that they had failed to report some properties they owned.
But the First Family was given a clean chit, although some of the commission's members complained recently that Ms Megawati and Mr Taufik had been uncooperative and had virtually ignored the commission's summons to sign the verified record on their assets, a necessary procedure to make the record official.
The KPKPN's high-profile targeting has ruffled quite a number of the country's top leaders, with some parliamentarians complaining that it was becoming too powerful.
A legislator who requested anonymity told The Straits Times: "It is unfair that they publicise our reports indiscriminately, even if they had no proof that we were guilty of graft because the public would not see it that way.
"While the summons might be procedural, it would attract so much media attention that we would be subjected to trial by the press in no time," he said.
Despite the results, the commission's graft-busting days are numbered. Last month, Parliament endorsed the Bill on Anti Corruption Committee, a new body that will be set up within a year and take over the KPKPN's role.
The new body is to have more clout, as it will be given the power to take over investigations from the Indonesian police and the Attorney General's Office.
However, KPKPN members think the change would result in a less effective anti-graft body. The work will be carried out by a much smaller team which will be under no obligation to make its findings public.
Said a member, Mr Chairul: "Public servants have illegally amassed their money rampantly, receiving kickbacks, for example. This has been the norm for too long. The KPKPN's policy of announcing the wealth of these civil servants to the public, acts as a deterence and would make them think twice before doing it again."
The commission plans to file a judicial review to the Supreme Court to challenge the Bill before it is signed by the President.