Heru Andriyanto – The country's much-derided penal system has taken yet another hit as reports emerge of a female convict in East Java paying another woman Rp 10 million ($1,100) to serve a seven-month sentence in her place.
The Attorney General's Office said over the weekend that it was preparing to investigate the incident, and would question the prosecutors in charge of the case. "We plan to question the officials involved on Monday," said Marwan Effendy, the deputy attorney general supervising internal monitoring.
He said those to be questioned included Hendro Sasmito, head of the special crimes unit at the prosecutors' office in Bojonegoro, East Java, and a staff member named Priyono. He also said prison officials would be questioned.
The controversy came to light when a prison in Bojonegoro received a "suspicious prisoner" on Dec. 27, registered under the name Kasiem.
Kasiem had been convicted of illegally selling government-subsidized fertilizer in two separate cases. She was sentenced to three and a half months in prison for each conviction.
Several prison guards who knew Kasiem from when she had been remanded prior to her convictions raised their suspicions from the first day that the new inmate arrived and began serving the sentence, but an investigation was not ordered until a neighbor of Kasiem's came for a visit.
After meeting with the inmate, the neighbor told guards it was not Kasiem, prompting prison officials to question the inmate. She told the officials that her real name was Karni and that she had been paid Rp 10 million to serve Kasiem's sentence. Karni was eventually released and the real Kasiem was sent to prison on Friday.
According to reports, Kasiem visited the prosecutors' office on Dec. 27, accompanied by her lawyer, Hasnowo, to sign some documents, but on the way to the prison switched places with Karni.
Untung Sugiyono, the director general of correctional institutions with the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, denied that his office was at fault, saying the imprisonment of convicts was the responsibility of prosecutors.
The scandal in Bojonegoro comes nearly a year after authorities on an unannounced inspection of Pondok Bambu Women's Penitentiary in East Jakarta found graft convict Artalyta Suryani's cell had a stereo, television, refrigerator, air-conditioner and adjoining karaoke parlor.
At the time of the visit by officials from the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force, Artalyta, who was serving a four-year sentence for bribing an AGO official, was getting a facial treatment from a beautician.
In November, rogue taxman Gayus Tambunan, supposedly in police custody during his ongoing graft trial, was spotted at a tennis tournament in Bali, wearing a wig and glasses.