House, ulema push for anti-smoking laws

The continued might of Indonesia’s far-reaching tobacco industry is being questioned, with the House of Representatives and an influential ulema group calling for anti-smoking laws.

Legislator Atte Sugandi of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party said Monday a bill being pushed for deliberation by the House would curb tobacco-related advertising, promotions, sponsorships, production and sales.

“Once it is passed into law, there will be no retail cigarette sales for students,” he said on the sidelines of a seminar on tobacco farmers.

The House will set up a special committee before the year’s end to deliberate the bill, a move that has been delayed for three years.

“We expect to pass the bill before our term ends next year,” Atte said of the draft, which has 87 articles.

“We are extremely worried about the recent development as most activities ranging from sports to education are sponsored by tobacco companies. They also sponsor students who want to pursue master’s degrees at the University of Indonesia, which is extremely dangerous,” he said.

He blamed the government’s poor monitoring and law enforcement for the excessive cigarette advertising.

Deputy chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) Ma’ruf Amin said ulema from across the country would gather in a West Sumatra town in January next year to discuss the issue of smoking.

“We have so far received many opinions from Muslims about smoking. Many ask the MUI to issue an edict banning Muslims from smoking, some others reject the idea,” said Ma’ruf, who heads the fatwa commission.

“It’s a tough issue to deal with, therefore we will handle it with care.”

Anti-smoking groups have repeatedly called on the government to take measures to reduce cigarette consumption in the country.

The government has rejected the request, citing the millions of jobs that would be at stake in the sector.

A recent survey by the University of Indonesia’s (UI) School of Economics shows that tobacco farmers earn Rp 413,347 on average per month, far lower than the average minimum monthly wage of Rp 883,693.

“We found that 65 percent of the surveyed tobacco farmers wanted to shift jobs to become (rice) paddy farmers or vendors. So, the government’s argument is wrong, only a few people benefit from tobacco,” UI researcher Abdillah Ahsan said.

By Adianto P. Simamora
Source : The Jakarta Post

Disgraced Urip gets 20 years

The Corruption Court sentenced disgraced prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan to 20 years in jail Thursday for taking a US$660,000 bribe to drop a major embezzlement case against fugitive tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim.

On the same day, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said his office was investigating 11 other prosecutors who allegedly conspired with Urip to halt the probe into Sjamsul’s involvement in the embezzlement of the Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) funds.

“The defendant has been proved legally and convincingly guilty of abusing and commercializing his position for his personal gain,” presiding judge Teguh Haryanto said.

The panel of judges also fined Urip Rp 500 million (about US$54,350), with failure to pay resulting in an additional year in prison.

The 20-year sentence was five years longer than the jail term sought by prosecutors from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), who had also requested a Rp 250 million fine for Urip.

In sentencing Urip, the judges listed aggravating circumstances.

“As a law enforcer the defendant has not supported the government’s efforts to eradicate corruption, and he has tainted the image and credibility of the Attorney General’s Office (AGO),” Teguh said.

He said Urip had been discriminatory in upholding the law, had never confessed his crime and had been circuitous when testifying in court.

Furthermore, the judges added, Urip was proved to have extorted Rp 1 billion from the former chief of the now-defunct Indonesian Banking Restructuring Agency, Glenn M. Yusuf, through his lawyer Reno Iskandarsyah.

“This (heavier sentence) is also an effort to deter other law enforcers so they will change their permissive attitude toward corruption,” Teguh said.

Urip led an AGO team investigating the embezzlement of Rp 28.4 trillion disbursed under the BLBI scheme to tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim, former owner of the liquidated Bank Dagang Nasional Indonesia (BDNI).

On Feb. 29, 2008, the AGO dropped two BLBI cases against Sjamsul and another tycoon Anthony Salim, citing a lack of evidence.

Two days later, the KPK arrested Urip for taking $660,000 from Artalyta Suryani, a businesswoman linked to Sjamsul, as a “gift” for his service in giving information and helping the tycoon evade three BLBI summonses by the AGO.

In response to the sentence, Urip said he understood the verdict and would consider lodging an appeal.

Indonesia Corruption Watch legal researcher Febri Diansyah said the Urip case should be seen as only a small part of the bigger graft scandal — the BLBI.

“The KPK should not ignore the indications other AGO prosecutors were involved in the case, including former assistant attorney general for special crimes Kemas Yahya Rahman and former director of special criminal investigations Muhammad Salim,” he said.

Febri said there was no reason for the KPK not to investigate those senior prosecutors.

Speaking in Semarang, Central Java, Attorney General Hendarman said there were 11 prosecutors who might have “conspired” with Urip to help have the BLBI cases dropped.

“We are still investigating them. There is no evidence as yet of their involvement in the case,” he said Thursday.

He said that, according to information he had received, the 11 prosecutors helped Urip design a legal opinion pertaining to the BLBI probe.

Hendarman said the 11 were among the 35 prosecutors who handled the BLBI cases, but refused to identify them.

He added that Urip was the only one involved in the bribery case.

Suherjoko contributed to this story from Semarang.

By Irawaty Wardany
Source : The Jakarta Post

KPK urged to take over BLBI cases

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has strong legal grounds to take over investigation of a huge loan scandal from the Attorney General’s Office, a discussion concluded here Friday.

The KPK has several times argued it was unable to take over the cases of the embezzled Bank Indonesia liquidity assistance (BLBI) funds because the 2003 law setting up the commission could not be applied retroactively.

The BLBI cases all date back to the financial crisis in 1998-1999, while the law to set up the KPK was passed in 2003.

But legal experts, speaking at the discussion, dismissed the non-retroactivity argument.

They said the KPK law states the commission has the authority to take over corruption cases if the AGO is unable to investigate them or lacks the commitment to do so.

“The mechanism for taking over cases from the AGO is stipulated in the 2003 KPK law,” said prominent legal expert Romli Atmasasmita, who chairs the Indonesian Society of Criminal Code and Criminology (Mahupiki).

According to him, the AGO lacked political will to seriously investigate the BLBI scandal.

On Feb 29, 2008, the AGO dropped the BLBI cases against two tycoons — Sjamsul Nursalim and Anthony Salim — citing a lack of evidence.

Two days later, the KPK arrested AGO prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan for allegedly taking a US$660,000 bribe from businesswoman Artalyta Suryani who has been linked to Sjamsul.

Sjamsul, who fled Indonesia, was suspected of misusing trillions of rupiah from the BLBI funds. Urip led the team to probe Sjamsul’s involvement in the scandal.

Mahupiki said the arrest of Urip provided momentum for the KPK to rapidly take over the cases from the AGO.

“The AGO has no commitment and intention to resolve the BLBI cases immediately. It has just let debtors escape justice without repaying their loans,” Romli said.

“Besides, there are also some AGO officials who misused some of the funds,” he added without elaborating.

The two-day discussion on the BLBI scandal, which ended Friday, was co-organized by Mahupiki and the Partnership for Governance Reform. Around 30 law experts were in attendance.

The Mahupiki board of directors includes senior legal experts — Muladi, Ronny Nitibaskara, Andi Hamzah and Liliana Tedjosaputro.

Partnership’s anti-corruption advisor Dadang Trisasongko shared similar views, saying the AGO had failed to resolve the BLBI cases.

He asked the AGO to be cooperative with the KPK should the commission take over the BLBI cases.

“The AGO has documents and evidence related to these cases. It should provide them to the KPK when the commission takes over the cases.

Last month, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said it was possible for the AGO to reopen the investigations into Sjamsul and Anthony but it depended on whether the Corruption Court found a link between the BLBI scandal and the Artalyta bribery case.

However, Romli expressed doubts that the AGO would reopen the cases. “It’s impossible that the AGO will work to resolve these issues” he said. [The Jakarta Post]