Heru Andriyanto – Last week's resignations of two high-ranking officials should signal the start – not the end – of a cleanup of the country's major law-enforcement agencies, anticorruption groups said on Sunday.
Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, the National Police's chief of detectives, and Deputy Attorney General Abdul Hakim Ritonga stepped down last week in the wake of their apparent involvement in a plot to fabricate a case against two deputy chairmen of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
Susno and Ritonga's names were mentioned several times in telephone conversations recorded by the KPK and played last week at the Constitutional Court
Boyamin Saiman, chairman of the Indonesian Anticorruption Society (MAKI), said he wanted to know what would happen to the other people mentioned in the tapes.
"Law enforcers who were mentioned in the wiretapped conversations must be held accountable according to the law," Boyamin said. "Under the anticorruption Law, those named in the tapes could be charged with obstruction of justice."
Danang Widyoko, head of Indonesia Corruption Watch, said Susno and Ritonga's resignations were only the tip of the iceberg and his group expected more heads to roll.
"[The resignations] will not resolve the ongoing controversy surrounding the plot to undermine the KPK, especially if the current police chief and the attorney general remain in their posts," Danang said. "The root of the problem lies at the top of two law-enforcement agencies – the police and the prosecutor's office."
This is the second time a top-level official at the Attorney General's Office has been embroiled in a major scandal.
Wisnu Subroto, a former deputy attorney general for intelligence, was involved in a highly publicized bribery scandal last year. In March 2008, the antigraft commission arrested a senior prosecutor for accepting a bribe from a businesswoman two days after the AGO dropped an embezzlement case against tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim, with whom the businesswoman was connected. Wisnu's name was mentioned in a wiretapped conversation promising protection for the businesswoman.
The controversy prompted the resignation of Untung Uji Santoso from his post as the deputy attorney general for civil and state administrative affairs.
Despite the highly publicized nature of that earlier case, only one prosecutor, Urip Tri Gunawan, was convicted of corruption. Three AGO deputies – Wisnu, Untung and Kemas Yahya Rahman – were never charged.
Last week, Wisnu was again heard in recorded conversations, instructing witnesses on how to testify against suspended KPK deputies Chandra M Hamzah and Bibit Samad Riyanto.
Danang said AGO officials might again escape with only a slap on the wrist. "How can we trust [Attorney General] Hendarman Supandji if he ignored calls to dismiss Wisnu over a bribery scandal last year? Now Wisnu has caused another embarrassment to the AGO," he said.
"Susno is the third highest-ranking officer in the National Police, but he was allowed to meet with a graft suspect and even conspire with that suspect to incriminate KPK officials. We can't expect any change if the president doesn't replace Hendarman and [National Police Chief Gen.] Bambang Hendarso Danuri."