Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Yusril and the Attorney General

On 24 June, the Attorney General Office (AGO) has named Former Minister of Law and Human Rights (1999-2004) Yusril Ihza Mahendra, and Hartono Tanusoedibyo the owner of PT. SRD, as Suspects in the alleged corruption case at the Department of Law and Human Rights.

The AGO alleged that Yusril had appointed, without tender process, PT. SRD to develop and administer
the Department's Legal Entity Administrative System (Sisminbakum) i.e. an online system for processing applications pertaining to the setting up and processing of Legal Entity. It was said that due to this fact the state has suffered financial losses amounting to Rp 420 Billion.


Earlier, the President Director of SRD Yohanes Woworuntu and 3 former Director Generals of the General Legal Administration i.e. Romli Atmasasmita, Syamsuddin Sinaga and Zulkarnain Yunus have been sentenced by the courts.  

On 1 July, Yusril came to the AGO, but he refused to be investigated because he claimed the the position of the present Attorney General Hendarman Supanji is ilegal. He said that Hendarman is part of the first Cabinet of President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) that ended on 20 October 2009, after which Hendarman was not among those who were sworn in as Cabinet members. Due to this fact, the AGO's decision to name him as Suspect is also illegal.
Yusril also stated that the decision to name him as a Suspect is part of the government's efforts to divert people's attention from the Rp 6.7 Trillion Bank Century Bailout case.

On 6 July, Yusril requested the Constitutional Court to conduct a Judicial Review on Hendarman's legitimacy as Attorney General.

On 12 July, Yusril finally agreed to be questioned for four hours by the AGO. During a talk-show on TV-One that evening, featuring Yusril and several lawyers, it was revealed that the appointment of SRD was actually a business based on Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) method in 2000, whereby SRD provide everything needed for the online system and operate it for 10 years. The profit is to be shared 90% for SRD and 10% for the Cooperative of the Dept. Law and Human Rights.  

Considering the above, I hope that the above case(s) would be processed thoroughly.

Sources for this post :
Yusril Ihza Mahendra's Website  
About Yusril Ihza Mahendra (Wikipedia)
Yusril dan Hartono TanoeTerancam Pasal Pidana Seumur Hidup (Detik)
Yusril : Hendarman Jaksa Agung tidak Sah (Tempo)
Kejaksaan Agung Bantah Hendarman Tidak Sah (Tempo)
Kisah Sisminbakum Nan Ruwet (BeritaSatu)
Siang ini Yusril Ajukan Judicial Review Status Hendarman (TribunNews)
Yusril : Sisminbakum Pengalihan Isu
Kasus Sisminbakum, 4 jam diperiksa, Yusril belum ditahan (Harian SIB)
Kasus Sisminbakum Belum Tutup Buku (Tempo)
Yohanes Woworuntu Bawa Kasus Sisminbakum ke KY (Kontan)

11 comments:

Travel Blog Party said...

WILL CORRUPTION EVER END ????

colson said...

A major case, a denying suspect and a lot of smoke indicating there might well be a fire of corruption.

All these cases of ( alleged) corruption may send one's head spinning or may cause one to despair if ever there will be a satisfying result.

However though bribing, nepotism etc will always be part of life, I think this is another case which may help to bring about a slightly cleaner society. It will take a lot of perseverance and lot of patience to bring about a fundamentally other culture - but it is worth the effort.

Unknown said...

It appears to me that corruption is very rampant.At this rate wonder when all the pending cases would be settled as new ones keep surfacing.

Unknown said...

@Travel Blog party,
A very good question.
In my humble opinion, as long as people still has wants and ego, there would always still be a wish to do anything, incl. corruption, to get money.

@Colson,
Here is Yusril's explanation :
Due to crisis that began in 1997, Indonesia ran to IMF for help. One of the conditions was Indonesia must immediately privatize state owned companies and allow larger foreign equity in business here.
For which purpose, companies/legal entities must immediately change their articles of association.
This is almost impossible if the Department of Law use manual system. Considering that the govt has no money to build online system
to process applications, the only solution at that time was to private company to finance the building and operation of online system based on the method of Build-Operate-Transfer for 10 years. The profit was to be shared 90/10.

The present govt refuse to understand that explanation and alleged that Yusril failed to conduct a tender to choose a builder and administrator of the online system.

IMHO, Yusril's allegation that the Attorney General is illegal, is groundless because there has been a change in status of the AG from member of cabinet into non member.

Yusril should instead say that his decision was based on his authority as Minister to do what he think is best for the country.

A thorough investigation by an independent party should be conducted to find out the truth.

@Umi,
Actually many improvements in the laws and its enforcement agencies have been made since 1998, but still not good enough. We need more time.

arfi said...

I was bored with corruption problems in Indonesia. I guess this problems will never end. The other corruption will raise and raise to the Indonesia surface. I do not even care with politics, too. it just wastes my time because i do not too understand with it..

Arfi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ferdinand said...

Agree with Travel Blog Party... udah bosen nie ngeliat berita beginian Sob...

Edwin's Personal Blog said...

don't know how to say about this guy. he was appointed to get in the governmental circle for his well capability. somehow he has been too much with what he had ever performed the responsibility..

Unknown said...

@Arfi,
Corruption and politics are facts of life not enjoyable to talk about. I wrote about this case because there are controversies: Yusril's explanation about what had happened, and his claim that the present attorney general is illegal. If we want Indonesia to be a great nation all that should be investigated.

@Ferdinand,
Walaupun saya juga bosan dengan berita seperti ini tapi kalau dari pada berita2 tentang video sex, saya lebih menyukai berita ini.

@Edwin,
That's how politicians are, they would always be ambitious to get power. For which purpose they'll do almost anything.

data hardisk said...

It appears to me that corruption is very rampant.At this rate wonder when all the pending cases would be settled as new ones keep surfacing.

Unknown said...

Data Hard Disk,
That's a very good question. It would be very surprising if they can really settle the pending cases in the foreseeable future.
Thank you for dropping by.