SBY Urges Indonesian Mafia-Busters Urged to Chase After ‘Big Fish’

Jakarta Globe, Camelia Pasandaran & Farouk Arnaz, April 07, 2010

President Yudhoyono wants anticorruption watchdogs to focus on major players in the judicial mafia.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday ordered the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force to concentrate on catching the “big fish,” as reports emerged of corruption cases far bigger than the Rp 28 billion ($3.1 million) uncovered in a mid-ranking tax official’s bank accounts.

“He hopes we can catch big fish, or expose really big cases and reveal problems that have been hidden,” task force head Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said after a meeting at the Presidential Palace.

Yudhoyono called on the team to focus on the so-called judicial mafia, especially law enforcers who fixed cases in exchange for cash.

For that reason, the president told the task force to monitor not only the central government but also regional administrations.

State corruption was again in the spotlight when Rp 28 billion was found in tax official Gayus Tambunan’s accounts. He was acquitted of embezzlement last month, prompting a former National Police chief of detectives to accuse high-ranking police officials of taking bribes from Gayus to unfreeze his accounts and insure a favorable ruling at his trial.

Mahfud MD, head of the Constitutional Court, was also at the meeting and said there was a bigger case on the horizon unrelated to the tax office.

“It is more than Gayus, it is worth nearly Rp 100 billion,” he said. “It is cross-institutional corruption.”

Mahfud said he had obtained a report on the case from a member of the House of Representatives, but declined to elaborate, saying it was not up to him as a Constitutional Court justice to reveal it.

The chief of the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), Yunus Husein, said on Tuesday that there was another case involving a former high-ranking tax official. He declined to mention any amount, however.

Yunus said his agency had uncovered another tax official with billions of rupiah in assets.

He said the case had been reported to the chief of the National Police and the Attorney General’s Office in March last year.

“It is up to the [National Police chief] whether his detective unit investigates the case,” he said.

Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said after meeting the president that his office had been investigating yet another tax case involving a larger sum than Gayus’s case. He also did not provide further details.

Kuntoro said his task force had not received information regarding the big cases but he hoped to receive it soon.

National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi said a PPATK report showed many tax officials had more money than Gayus in their accounts.

“We will check the PPATK report again,” Ito said, adding that the law required the center to alert the police to any suspicious transactions, with the police expected to determine if there were indications of crime.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati vowed to take action against any of her officials linked to tax crimes.

“Gayus has been discharged, and there are two others who are being processed, and if there is enough proof to warrant sanction, the cases will be processed this week according to the regulations,” she said.

She also warned that anyone with knowledge of irregularities but who declined to report it would also be sanctioned.

Sri Mulyani said nonperforming high-ranking officials would be moved to other posts and the first transfers of directors, especially those related to the Gayus case, were imminent.

Her ministry’s inspector general, Hekinus Manap, said Gayus had told police others in his office were involved in brokering tax cases and named 13 people, including some outside the office.

He said that so far only one official had been discharged, while the fate of nine others would be announced on Monday.