JAKARTA: Concerns over due process and accountability grew after the National Police handed over an investigation into corruption cases implicating the former assistant attorney general for special crimes, Febrie Adriansyah, to the Attorney General's Office (AGO).
The handover came shortly after the police’s Corruption Eradication Corps (Kortas Tipidkor) named Febrie a suspect in alleged graft and money laundering cases linked to several state-owned enterprises (SOEs) over the weekend.
At a joint press briefing with the AGO and House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs on Saturday, Kortas Tipidkor chief Insp Gen Totok Suharyanto said Febrie was named a suspect pertaining to “[state insurer] PT Asabri and other cases”.
PT Asabri manages insurance and pension funds for the police and the military.
Police also named another suspect, identified only as DR, over the same allegations as Febrie’s. Unlike Febrie, DR was arrested on Friday.
Febrie’s name first appeared during the police’s initial probe last week into alleged corruption surrounding coal supplies to state-owned electricity company PLN, which the police said contributed to recent nationwide blackouts.
The investigation later expanded to include PT Asabri and another state insurer PT Asuransi Jiwasraya, as well as state-owned steelmaker PT Krakatau Steel.
During last week’s probe, the police raided at least 13 locations in and around Jakarta and seized Rp 476 billion (US$26.3 million) in various currencies and 74 kilograms of gold bars.
One of the locations searched was a house belonging to Febrie in Sentul on the outskirts of Jakarta.
Totok said the cases had now been transferred to the AGO’s special crimes division, hours after Febrie resigned as division chief on Saturday, despite denying any involvement in the alleged corruption.
“We have formally accepted the three cases as part of our commitment to expedite the investigation as well as to professionalism and [interinstitutional] synergy,” acting assistant attorney general for special crimes Rudi Margono said at Saturday’s press briefing.
Rudi added that Febrie had not been arrested and that AGO investigators would first examine the case files and evidence before deciding the next steps in the investigation.
The decision to let the AGO investigate the cases involving its own former top prosecutor has since fueled concerns over potential conflicts of interest, with Zaenur Rohman of Gadjah Mada University’s Center for Anti-corruption Studies (Pukat UGM) questioning whether the process can remain independent.
“If the AGO solely handled the investigation, the public will surely question whether it will stop at Febrie or whether it will go after other AGO officials who may also be involved in the case,” Zaenur told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
He also warned that transferring a half-ongoing investigation “could risk allowing Febrie to contest his suspect status later through a pretrial motion”.
Democracy and policy advocacy group Setara Institute chair Hendardi echoed a similar concern, saying that “corruption at this level is highly unlikely to be the work of a single individual”.
AGO spokesperson Anang Supriatna did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comments.
Lawmakers have also gotten involved, with House Commission III establishing a team to oversee the AGO investigation.
“This case involves individuals, not institutions. There must be no interagency rivalry,” Commission III chairman Habiburokhman of President Prabowo Subianto’s Gerindra Party said on Saturday.
Last week’s police probe renewed tensions among the police, the AGO, and the Indonesian Military (TNI), after soldiers guarded Febrie’s residence in Jakarta following reports that the police attempted to raid the place just a week after the AGO investigated a police general for corruption in the free nutritious meals program.
Watchdogs have since urged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to take over the case instead, arguing that the antigraft body would be better placed to investigate allegations involving officials from other law enforcement agencies.
Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) activist Wana Alamsyah said the KPK could handle the case more objectively, expressing doubts that the AGO could “handle impartially” when the suspect is a former senior official of the institution.
Zaenur of Pukat UGM, meanwhile, said the KPK would provide no conflict of interest since it is “a third party with no direct institutional stake” in the investigation.
While the KPK noted that it could take over the investigation if it stalled, it stressed that there was no basis to intervene at this stage.
“We have to respect the efforts of every law enforcement agency carrying out its duties,” the KPK’s deputy for enforcement and execution Asep Guntur Rahayu said in a separate press briefing on Saturday.
“A takeover cannot be done merely on assumptions [regarding the process].”
