Nivell Rayda & Febriamy Hutapea – The Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, found itself taking heat from critics for being too "cowardly" for failing to go after more House of Representatives legislators implicated in Bank Indonesia corruption scandals.
Speaking after a meeting with the Regional Representatives Council, or DPD, Transparency International Indonesia secretary general Teten Masduki criticized the commission and blasted KPK head Antasari Azhar for being beholden to the House, or DPR.
"The KPK is not independent in fighting against corruption in the House because the KPK is worried that its authority will be disturbed by the House," Teten said.
The corruption-plagued DPR has been criticized for dragging its feet on legislation that would establish a permanent Anti-Corruption Court.
The Constitutional Court has ruled that the House must pass a new law legitimizing the court by December 2009 or it could be deemed in breach of the Constitution.
There are fears that legislators might run out the clock and let the deadline pass, which would invalidate the authority of the court.
The KPK has increasingly targeted members of the DPR, including a number of high-profile cases being tried in the Anti-Corruption Court.
The KPK was also recently forced to face questions over the use of "backdoor channels" to secure its budget for 2009.
Antasari Azhar, the head of the KPK, said recently that he had asked the House Commission III overseeing law and legislation on three separate occasions to approve the KPK's request for a budget of Rp 187.9 billion ($15.6 million), but the request was ignored.
It was finally approved in full by the Ministry of Finance without, rather embarrassingly, the commission's approval.
Teten said the KPK feared Commission III because its members had approved Antasari as head of the KPK. "The House Commission III is the most the KPK has worried about," Teten said. "The KPK head doesn't hold independency when dealing with the House."
Teten specifically cited to two cases involving the central bank. The first was related to the amendment of the Bank Indonesia Law in 2003, and the second surrounds alleged corruption in the appointment of Miranda Goeltom to her position as senior deputy governor.
The cases, which revealed previously unseen depths of corruption within the House, implicate BI officials and numerous legislators.
The first case alone saw three BI officials jailed, including former BI governor Burhanuddin Abdullah for five years, as well as two legislators.
However, numerous legislators and figures with alleged ties to the 2003 case have never been charged, including State Minister for National Development Planning Paskah Suzetta, Forestry Minister MS Kaban and Supreme Audit Agency head Anwar Nasution.
The KPK has so far failed to lay any charges in connection with the second case, despite the presence of what critics have called abundant evidence.
Dozens of lawmakers allegedly received illegal contributions connected to the appointment of Gultom in 2004. That accusation was levelled by Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, lawmaker Agus Tjondro, who has previously testified that he received Rp 500 million in traveler's checks.
"The KPK head isn't independent when dealing with the House, though the KPK actually can trace transactions [made by lawmakers] with its modern technology," Teten said.
Lawmaker Al Muzammil Yusuf of the Prosperous Justice Party, or PKS, said that the KPK should not fear Commission III and act dependently.
"The KPK has its own authority and shouldn't link its performance with the House," he said. "There should be no excuse made to hamper their duties to combat corruption," he said.
KPK spokesman Johan Budi said that the commission could not rush naming someone as a suspect, and must be sure that they have a strong case.
"We can use court testimonies and other indications but we want to get some solid piece of evidence to ensure that we can get a conviction," Johan told the Jakarta Globe.
"Throughout our history, we have a 100 percent conviction rate and we don't want to taint that by naming someone a suspect only to withdraw the charges later."
The spokesman assured, however, that the cases handled by the KPK were never closed.
"We are continuing to develop the cases further, looking for more evidence and possibly naming more suspects as we did in the [first] Bank Indonesia corruption scandal," he said. "We hope the public will be patient, because justice will be served," he said.