Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The law commission at the House of Representatives asked the Anti-Corruption Commission (KPK) to take over unresolved corruption cases from the National Police and the Attorney General's Office.
The request was part of a conclusion made at the end of a three-day hearing at the commission. It was a similar conclusion to one made during a hearing last month, law commission chairman Trimedya Panjaitan, who presided over the meeting, said.
During its three-day hearing, the commission focused much of its attention on unresolved corruption cases in the country.
Several commission members cited the graft case at state power company PLN, saying that if police cannot submit the case to the Attorney General's Office within two weeks, the KPK should take over the case, in which PLN president Eddie Widiono is allegedly involved.
"The PLN corruption case should be a priority of the KPK because the police and the Attorney General's Office have been involved in a prolonged conflict over the case," said Almuzamil Yusuf, deputy chairman of the law commission.
National Police chief Gen. Sutanto told the commission last week that police needed one week to complete their investigation into the case.
Pataniari Siahaan of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) went further, suggesting the law commission establish a working committee to carry out investigations into unresolved corruption cases if the KPK made no significant progress, should it be given authority to handle cases.
Panda Nababan, also of PDI-P, challenged the KPK to take over not only the PLN corruption case, but many other unresolved cases.
"The KPK should take over investigations into 19 major corruption cases that the National Police and the Attorney General's Office are yet to resolve. These cases, which have caused trillions of rupiah in losses to the state, have been investigated for years but no progress has been made," he said.
He cited the unresolved investigation into irregularities concerning Bank Indonesia liquidity support funds and the construction project of Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh's official residence. He also cited corruption cases allegedly involving a number of businesspeople and former officials in the mining and forestry sectors, state-owned companies, IPTN, Garuda Indonesia, Pertamina, PT Taspen and Perumnas.
Meanwhile, deputy chairman of the KPK, Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean, said the KPK had been supervising an investigation into 32 corruption cases being handled by the police and the Attorney General's Office.
"We will take over these cases if no progress is made and we will increase our supervision on the handling of major corruption cases regardless of the suspects' political background and position," he said.
The law commission also urged the KPK to look into the procurement of goods and services in state institutions to give the executive body a recommendation on how a 2003 Presidential Decree should be reviewed to avoid misinterpretations in its implementation.