AGO takes action against prosecutors whose bungling to Gayus acquittal

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Thu, 04/22/2010 11:13 PM

The Attorney General Office’s (AGO) announced Thursday the punishments for the 12 prosecutors found to have failed to conduct a proper examination of the corruption case involving tax officer Gayus Tambunan which resulted in his acquittal.

The six members of the prosecution team and six high-ranking prosecution office officials who approved the indictment of Gayus without an adequate legal basis variously face eitherdelayed promotion, demotion or dismissal.

Two members of the prosecution team, Cirus Sinaga and Poltak Manullang, were officially demoted from their positions yesterday for allegedly “engineering” the indictment against Gayus.

Today the AGO handed out “light and moderate” punishment to four members of the team, Fadil Regan, Eka Kurnia Sukmasari, Ika Syafitri Salim, and Nazran Azis, said Junior Attorney General for Monitoring Hamzah Tadja.

“Eka, Ika and Nazran were punished by one year delayed promotion, while Fadil was demoted from his current position for one year,” he told reporters.

Fadil received heavier punishment because he had overlooked indications of corruption in the Gayus case and agreed with Cirus and Poltak to only charge him with embezzlement and money laundering, Hamzah said.

“The other prosecutors had indicated the possibility of corruption in the case, but Fadil refused to take that into account,” he said.

The six high-ranking prosecution office officials also faced lenient sanctions of delayed promotion or only written reprimands, despite the fact they had approved the irregular indictment against Gayus Tambunan.

Hamzah only revealed their initials as KS, PL, NF, ADF, SYN, and MIJ.

The 12 prosecutors had been questioned by AGO following the irregular indictment of Gayus under the 2003 Money Laundering Law and the Criminal Code, carrying a maximum sentence of five years jail, instead of the Corruption Law that carries heavier punishment. The Tangerang District Court then acquitted Gayus last month.