Graft courts in regions vital: NGOs

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | | Wed, March 08 2006, 7:50 AM 

""There is a very large gap between what is promoted in the capital and what is actually happening in the provinces,"" West Nusa Tenggara coalition head Ervyn Kaffah said.

""SBY's shock therapy on corruption in Jakarta is also only happening in Jakarta,"" Kaffah said.



The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government should take the fight against graft to the regions where malfeasance is still widespread among officials, the National Coalition of NGOs against Corruption says.

The activists called for the government to establish an anticorruption court in each province, saying regional courts could not be trusted to deliver proper verdicts free from political interference.

So far, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has only one court in Jakarta, while the majority of corruption cases have come from outside the city.


Indonesian Corruption Watch head Teten Masduki said Monday a lack of supervision from Jakarta had fueled corruption in local administrations.

Police, officials and courts were doing little to stop graft in the regions despite the government's national campaign, Teten said.

""There is a very large gap between what is promoted in the capital and what is actually happening in the provinces,"" West Nusa Tenggara coalition head Ervyn Kaffah said.

""SBY's shock therapy on corruption in Jakarta is also only happening in Jakarta,"" Kaffah said.

The provinces' elite often used the military to threaten people who attempted to expose corruption in their administrations, while police often failed to process reports about graft, he said.

The NGOs demanded police and prosecutors establish an agreed standard for handling graft cases. Personnel who were found to have been involved in graft or were not properly following up corruption cases should face the full weight of the law, they said.

Graft cases needed to be handled transparently and accountably and cases that had stalled should be reevaluated. Investigations should focus on the losses they caused to the state and finding the perpetrators, they said.

Some cases have stalled for no apparent reason. While Southeast Sulawesi Governor Ali Mazi has been reported to the police in connection with the illegal mark-up of a power generation project worth Rp 20 billion, the case has yet to reach the courts.

Meanwhile, a resettlement project scam allegedly involving Alor Regent Ans Takalapeta, which cost the state Rp 1.3 billion, was dropped when East Nusa Tenggara police decided to halt all investigations.
Neither were all of those accused of graft being investigated, the activists said. Out of the 45 former members of the Pontianak Regional Legislature who were accused of embezzling Rp 2.8 billion from the regent's budget, only five were eventually investigated.

Then there was the case of the 17 members of the Depok Legislature, each convicted of embezzling a total of Rp 7.3 billion from Depok's budget and sentenced to two-year jail terms. Despite the verdict, none of the councillors were in prison, the NGOs said.

While criminals went unpunished, whistleblowers continued to fear for their personal safety and risked prosecution, they said.

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