Indonesia leader steps in as graft scandal sparks public outcry

Nov 23, 2009, 13:44 GMT

Jakarta - Indonesia's president on Monday called for corruption charges against two deputy chairmen of the country's anti-graft commission to be dropped, citing a public outcry over what many see as a conspiracy to weaken the body.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been under public pressure to act on allegations that the charges against the commissioners - Bibit Samad Riyanto and Chandra Hamzah - were trumped up after wiretapped recordings revealed an apparent plot to frame the them.

Yudhoyono said he had earlier believed that the law should take its course but continuing the case could trigger social unrest given the people's lack of faith in the process.

'A better solution would be that police and prosecutors not bring this case to the court but still take into account a sense of justice,' Yudhoyono said at a news conference.

'The legal process is not the only consideration,' he said. 'Public opinion, social unity and the discrepancy between the law and justice are taken into account.'

Yudhoyono was responding to findings from a presidential investigative team which recommended that he take action against those implicated in the alleged conspiracy and demand police and prosecutors drop the charges against the commissioners owing to weak evidence.

Yudhoyono urged law enforcement agencies to initiate internal reforms and said he would set up a task force to eradicate what he called 'the legal mafia,' referring to the practice of bribery and other forms of corruption among police, judges and prosecutors.

The perceived scandal has raised questions about Yudhoyono's determination to fight endemic corruption.

Calls are mounting for Yudhoyono to sack National Police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri and Attorney General Hendarman Supandji, whom they perceive as being complicit in the conspiracy.

A Facebook page in support of the anti-corruption commission has attracted more than 1.3 million people.

In the recordings played in a televised court hearing this month, a senior prosecutor, police investigators and the brother of a businessman who was the subject of a corruption probe by the commission appeared to be discussing scenarios to frame Riyanto and Hamzah.

One of the speakers talked about Yudhoyono's consent to the move.

Some anti-graft activists have linked the alleged conspiracy to election funding for Yudhoyono's Democratic Party and the government's much-criticized decision to bail out a failing small bank, in which politically connected figures allegedly stashed their fortunes.

Yudhoyono has denied any involvement, calling the accusations slanderous.

The anti-corruption commission, set up in 2003 to fight corruption in one of the world's most graft-prone nations with the power to arrest and prosecute, has been widely praised by the public for a series of successful prosecutions of high-profile offenders.

Legislators, governors, former ministers, businessmen, one prosecutor and top central bank officials, including an in-law of Yudhoyono, have been jailed by a special corruption court.

The commission's trouble began in May when its chairman, Antasari Azhar, was arrested for allegedly orchestrating a murder.

Azhar, who claims the charges against him were trumped up, is now on trial and could face the death penalty if convicted.

A senior policeman on trial for his alleged involvement in the murder testified this month that he was coerced by his superiors to implicate Azhar in the killing. Police have denied the accusations.