Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office has been accused of trying to protect bribery suspect Artalyta Suryani by conspiring to help her evade arrest by the graft body.
The scenario formed part of a major conspiracy between AGO prosecutors and those suspected of embezzling Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) funds, experts and activists said Wednesday.
"Clearly there are intimate relationships between them. The prosecutors have been used as tools," said Ismet Hasan Putro, chairman of the Professional Civil Society.
Earlier in the day, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) confirmed the AGO had wanted to arrest Artalyta at the time the graft commission was about to make the arrest at a South Jakarta house on March 2, 2008.
Emerson Yuntho of Indonesia Corruption Watch said the AGO's denial over a taped conversation, in which deputy attorney general for state administration Untung Udji Santoso is heard telling Artalyta about an AGO plan to arrest her, was a desperate measure from the office.
"The AGO has been cornered over this scandal, which is implicating its top officials," he said.
The Artalyta-Untung conversation reportedly took place a few hours after KPK investigators arrested AGO prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan for allegedly accepting a US$660,000 bribe from Artalyta.
The bribe is allegedly related to Urip's investigation into tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim, one of the suspects in the embezzlement of BLBI funds.
"It was very obvious from the taped conversations between Artalyta and AGO officials. The public can see that the office's denial was a lie," Emerson said.
Sidik Latuconsina, an AGO prosecutor involved in the arrest plan, said Tuesday the arrest had been planned for the sake of justice and had been approved by the head of the KPK.
But KPK deputy for prevention Chandra Hamzah denied his office had okayed the AGO's plan to arrest Artalyta.
"We planned to arrest both Urip and Artalyta right after the bribery took place. But we couldn't arrest her immediately because she locked herself in her room and demanded her lawyer," he said Wednesday.
Chandra admitted the KPK had received a call from an AGO official about the arrest, but insisted the graft body did not approve the plan.
He said the KPK was sure from the beginning of their investigation into the alleged bribery by Artalyta that no other party was conducting a similar investigation. "But the AGO can claim whatever it wants," Chandra said.
Artalyta is believed to have a good relationship with Sjamsul and to have been helping him with his case.
Her arrest came only two days after the AGO dropped Sjamsul's case due to lack of evidence on Feb. 29, 2008. Sjamsul, former director of Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia, had been suspected of misappropriating Rp 28.4 trillion in BLBI funds.
The BLBI funds were loans extended under the government's blanket guarantee program during the financial crisis of the late 1990s. About Rp 51.7 trillion (US$5.5 billion), out of a total of Rp 144.5 trillion BLBI loans issued since 1997, have been bad. (dre)