Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has bowed to public pressure by removing two graft-tainted officials from their new posts as corruption investigation supervisors.
Deputy attorney general for special crimes Marwan Effendi said Kemas Yahya Rahman and Muhammad Salim, implicated last year in a high-profile bribery case involving prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan, had been officially removed from their posts as of Wednesday morning.
"From now on, their duties and authority will fall under my supervision. I hope this will end the problems," Marwan said. He added Attorney General Hendarman Supandji had ordered the dismissals to quell public criticism.
On Jan. 22, Hendarman named Kemas and Salim as coordinator and deputy coordinator, respectively, of a special team on corruption.
Antigraft activists were quick to blast the move, citing their dismissals from previous posts as deputy attorney general for special crimes and special crimes investigations director, respectively, for misconduct.
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) also expressed surprise at the appointments and asked the AGO to reconsider the controversial policy.
The antigraft body once accused Kemas and Salim of plotting corrupt practices with graft convict Artalyta Suryani, a close friend of tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim.
Urip led an investigation into alleged embezzlement of Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) funds involving Sjamsul, which the AGO eventually dropped due to "lack of evidence".
In the trial of Urip and Artalyta, the court found Kemas and Salim held conversations with Artalyta while the probe into Sjamsul was underway.
Urip was eventually sentenced to 20 years in prison for accepting a US$660,000 cash bribe from Artalyta, who got five years in prison. Marwan said Kemas would be given a post that did not deal with special crimes.
"Pak Kemas happened to have his term within the AGO structure end as of Feb. 15," he said.
He added both Kemas and Salim were aware of the fresh dismissals. "They accepted the decision without hard feelings," Marwan said, quoting the two officials.
Kemas had been sent to the Southeast Sulawesi capital of Kendari and the North Sulawesi capital of Manado, and Salim to Ambon in Maluku when the attorney general revoked their appointments.
However, Marwan lamented the public's reaction to the appointments of Kemas and Salim, which he said would adversely affect the AGO's performance if left unchecked.
He pointed out both Kemas and Salim had performed better than the rest of the corps of prosecutors. "Their reports were excellent, even better than previous reports."
University of Indonesia legal expert Hasril Hertanto lauded the AGO's about-face, which he said was the right move.
But he questioned the AGO's reason for appointing problematic prosecutors to positions they had failed to live up to in the first place, saying the AGO lacked a self-critical mechanism that would otherwise help it regain public trust.
Transparency International Indonesia secretary-general Teten Masduki said the government should learn a serious lesson from the case by scrutinizing every move made by the AGO in the future. "Don't give AGO officials a chance to slow down the fight against graft with their tricks," he said.