Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Attorney General Hendarman Supandji continues to defy public pressure to reopen a probe into a huge loan scandal, following the imprisonment of prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan, who led the investigation, last week.
During a hearing with the Attorney General's Office on Monday, members of the House of Representatives' Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, urged Hendarman to reopen the Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) case, which allegedly involved tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim, following Urip's conviction.
The Corruption Court sentenced Urip to 20 years in prison for receiving a US$660,000 bribe from businesswoman Artalyta Suryani to stop investigating Sjamsul in the BLBI case, which cost the state more than Rp 25 trillion in losses.
However, Hendarman insisted the guilty verdict against Urip did not constitute new evidence for the AGO to reopen the case.
"Urip was punished because he received bribes to help Artalyta monitor the case, not to halt the investigation. All the team members agree there is not enough evidence to resume the investigation," he argued.
His defense immediately raised questions from legislators present at the hearing that the court clearly ruled Urip was guilty of accepting the money from Artalyta, Sjamsul's close aide, in exchange for the probe into the tycoon to be dropped.
The verdict also suggests the 11-member team of prosecutors could be implicated in the scandal, with many believing Urip may not have been the only perpetrator.
During the trials of Urip and Artalyta, the court heard about the involvement of other senior AGO prosecutors, including former assistant attorney general for special crimes Kemas Yahya Rahman, former assistant attorney general for state administration Untung Udji Santoso and former director of special crimes investigation Muhammad Salim.
"All these testimonies clearly show they fabricated everything so the case could be halted. We ask the AGO to investigate all of the team members and reopen the case," legislator Nursyahbani Katjasungkana of the National Awakening Party (PKB) said.
Benny Kabur Harman of the Democratic Party warned that Hendarman's failure to reopen the BLBI case could send out the message that the attorney general had something to hide. "What are you afraid of? Only with a firm decision to reopen the case can the AGO regain the public's trust," he said.
Hendarman denied he had anything to conceal. He added because the government had issued the release and discharge letters for fraudulent BLBI debtors, the case could only be reopened if there was new evidence proving that Sjamsul's assets, given to the state to pay off his debts, were overstated, thus leading to state losses.
"All the members of Urip's team agreed they did not find new evidence, since it turned out the value of the assets given to the state had been appraised by an independent firm. That's why we dropped the investigation," he said.
Sjamsul, who is believed to be in hiding in Singapore, reportedly repaid his Rp 28.4 trillion debt. But the AGO launched an investigation after the value of assets he handed over to the state was found to worth only Rp 4.9 trillion.
Several Commission III members questioned why the AGO did not begin an investigation into possible collusion between the appraisal firm, government officials and Sjamsul in repaying the debt.
Lukman Hakim Saifuddin of the United Development Party (PPP) and Gayus Lumbuun of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) urged the AGO to hand the BLBI case over to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) as soon as possible.