TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The recurring scandals of bribes paid by regional chiefs to prosecutors should cause Attorney-General H.M. Prasetyo to hang his head in shame. It is a sign that he has failed to put matters right and to reform the system and the people who run it. His promise to rid his department of prosecutors who take advantage of cases they work on is still far from a reality.
Before the Brantas Abipraya case, which seems to have led to the bribery of Jakarta Attorney-General's Office (AGO) chief Sudung Situmorang, has even been resolved, Deviyanti Rochaeni, prosecutor for special crimes at the West Java AGO was caught red-handed herself. She was handling the case of Healthcare Social Security Agency (BPJS Kesehatan) funds abuse by two Subang Health Service officials, Budi Santoso and Jajang Abdul Kholik. She is now alleged to have accepted Rp528 million from Subang Regent Ojang Sohandi, possibly to keep his name out of the case.
What is surprising are the statements from the attorney-general and other senior officials. Instead of apologizing to the public and admitting that something is amiss within the AGO, they have been lining up to defend their subordinates. In the Brantas case, Attorney-General H.M. Prasetyo said it was not certain that Sudung Situmorang had known he was to be offered a bribe. But the fact is that two senior Brantas staff who were to hand over the money and who were caught red-handed by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said they had met Sudung many times.
In the Deviyanti Rochaeni case, West Java AGO chief Feri Wibisono said that the money taken by Deviyanti was actually an installment of compensation for losses paid to the state by the two suspects, Budi and Jajang. They had been ordered to return Rp4.7 trillion of embezzled funds to the AGO, some of which had already been paid back. According to Feri, the money given to Deviyanti was the final installment. But this makes no sense. According to the KPK, only Rp168 million remained to be paid, yet Deviyanti was given Rp528 million. This was clearly much more than an installment.
Even if it really was an installment, paying it to prosecutor Deviyanti was a breach of the code of ethics and of procedure. Why did the two men have to hand over state compensation to the prosecutor handling the case? And where did they obtain the funds to return such a large amount? It is right to suspect that the money came from Regent Ojang Sohandi, especially since Budi said in court that some of the BJPS funds went into the regent's pocket.
These two cases show how prosecutors are never deterred from taking bribes, even if they are subsequently arrested. The attorney-general's promise to undertake internal reforms was an empty one. There are still many prosecutors who are dirty and corrupt, who buy and sell cases, and who are prepared to reduce the seriousness of charges as long as the price is right. And under H.M Prasetyo, there are increasing signs that more and more senior AGO officials are ready to defend their subordinates if there are indications of bribery.
The attorney-general has now been in office for over a year, and there have been no achievements of any merit. The AGO is simply reinforcing its image as a dilapidated bastion of justice in decline. These two bribery cases have led to a further decline in the dignity and integrity of the AGO. In a future cabinet reshuffle, President Joko Widodo should replace Prasetyo with an individual able to realize an AGO who is clean and who has integrity. (*)
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