Dian Kuswandini, Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has fired six of its prosecutors, citing charges of bribery, extortion, drug abuse, negligence and disobedience.

Assistant Attorney General for Internal Affairs Darmono said in Jakarta on Tuesday that among the dismissed officials were Ratmadi Saptondo, a former head of Tilumata Prosecutor's Office in Gorontalo.

Ratmadi came under the public spotlight when a recording of his conversation with an official of the Boalemo regency administration was leaked to public. In the conversation, Ratmadi threatened to arrest a number of top administration officials for their possible involvement in corruption cases. He expressed his dissatisfaction with Boalemo Regent Iwan Boking and other officials for the amount of money they had received.

"Our internal investigation concluded that he had violated our code of ethics. The attorney general (Hendarman Supandji) decided to fire him immediately after he read the conclusion," Darmono said.

The AGO also fired "SW" from West Sumatra and "TH" from East Nusa Tenggara for extortion and receiving bribes. Prosecutors DOP from Poso, Central Sulawesi, and SF from Timika, Papua, were fired for drug abuse and for being absent without leave, respectively.

"Prosecutor SF was absent from his duty for more than a year without having asked for permission," Darmono said.

He also said prosecutor "HST" from Karawang, West Java, had been fired for negligence resulting in the escape of a prisoner. "HST escorted prisoner Ali Rahman without any guards from the police, allowing the prisoner to escape," he added.

Darmono said the AGO was currently investigating eight other prosecutors, including one charged with polygamy, which is banned by a regulation on public servants.

He said the AGO had recently begun investigating three of its officials in Medan, North Sumatra, who had allegedly manipulated court verdicts.

Two weeks ago, the police arrested three people for allegedly illegally reducing the jail term of a convicted drug dealer.

The court in August sentenced Sumarlin (alias Cen Yu) to two years' imprisonment, but three officials allegedly produced a new court document with false signatures and stamps that stipulated a sentence of only six months.

The three also allegedly received between Rp 2 million (US$171) and Rp 3 million in bribes to falsify the document.