Amir Tejo, Heru Andriyanto & Armando Siahaan, Jakarta – The war of blame between two law enforcing government institutions over a prisoner-substitution scandal in East Java continued on Wednesday with the Attorney General's Office saying that the switch had been proposed by a jail official.
The Justice and Human Rights Ministry, which oversees prison officials, had on the previous day said prosecutors were responsible for the switch, in which a female convict paid another woman to serve her seven-month sentence.
An investigation by the AGO into the case found that a prison official named Atmari, who is responsible for receiving new prisoners at the state penitentiary in Bojonegoro, East Java, originally proposed finding someone else to serve the jail term for graft convict Kasiem.
Parts of the investigation report, made public by the AGO, showed that Kasiem's lawyer, Hasnomo, said Atmari had come up with the idea for a substitution.
According to the document, Hasnomo first contacted district prosecutor Hendro Sasmito to ask that his client not be jailed, but the official told him the request was impossible to meet.
Hasnomo said that he then contacted Atmari who said, "That could be arranged as long as there was a substitute for the convict."
In a press conference earlier in the day, AGO spokesman Babul Khoir Harahap said four officials at the Bojonegoro district prosecutor's office had been handed sanctions, including written reprimands and job suspensions.
The heaviest went to Widodo Priyono, an administrative staffer who drove the convict to the prison and allowed the switch en route. "Widodo Priyono was dismissed dishonorably as a civil servant," Babul said.
The investigation also found that Kasiem gave her lawyer Rp 20 million ($2,220) to get a replacement for her, but the stand-in, Karni, was only paid Rp 7.5 million, Babul said.
Widodo told interrogators he had agreed to the switch after he was assured that Atmari had approved the plan, Babul said.
The Bojonegoro district police have declared Hasnomo, his associate Angga and Widodo as criminal suspects in the switching case. They face charges of robbing the rights to freedom of an individual and of document falsification. The handover of the convict was also not accompanied by court order as required.
"For the time being, the three will face charges of violating article 33 of the Criminal Code on robbing the rights of others, a charge carrying up to five years in jail, and of article 263 on document falsification, which carries up to six years in jail," Bojonegoro Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Widodo said.
The chief said that, as the investigation was still ongoing, more suspects may be announced, including the prosecutors.
Hasnomo on Tuesday told Metro TV that the switch was made in front of the Bojonegoro jail at 11:30 a.m. late in December.
The lawyer's whereabouts are unknown but the police have issued a summons for him to appear for questioning on Friday.
Meanwhile, Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar said that the prison officials were not to blame. According to a report made by the ministry's branch in the area, the prison officials had followed all procedures correctly.
"A prisoner was submitted, (the prison officials) checked her complete identity as well as the one who took her there," he said. "That's enough, right?"
Instead, Patrialis said that the prison official who first discovered the swap should be rewarded. "There was an initiative. Imagine if they were not aware (of the swap)," he said.