The Jakarta Post , Jakarta Mon, 03/03/2008 11:32 AM National
The government is left with few alternatives for pursuing state funds allegedly misappropriated by two tycoons following prosecutors' decision to end investigations into the tycoons' alleged swindling of some Rp 81.1 trillion (US$8.96 billion) worth of Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) funds, a noted lawyer said.
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) announced on Friday it was dropping the Sudono Salim and Sjamsul Nursalim investigations for lack of evidence.
Todung Mulya Lubis from Indonesia Transparency International said Saturday the decision marked a bitter outcome to a much-watched investigation.
"That was the consequences that we had to face because the government allowed the two tycoons to pay for the debts with shares," he said.
He said the value of the shares was contingent on market conditions, creating risk, and intimated that the risk should have been foreseeable to the government.
Suggesting that it was time to move on, he said "Let's just focus on (smaller debtors) for the time being."
The AGO conducted an investigation after having discovered a huge drop in values of assets assigned to the state by Salim and Sjamsul in payment of obligations owed to the state.
In an earlier appraisal the assets used by Salim for repayment of the debt were found to be worth Rp 52.7 trillion. However, when the government sold them, the value had dropped to Rp 19.3 trillion.
Meanwhile, the assets received from Sjamsul were valued at Rp 28.4 trillion but sold for only Rp 4.9 trillion.
The government accepted a 92.8 stake in the Salim Group in repayment for BLBI debts totaling Rp 52.7 trillion. Salim also assigned the government other assets and companies as part of the deal.
Sjamsul, the owner of Gadjah Tunggal Group, handed over three of his companies to repay his Rp 28.4 trillion debt to the government.
The Megawati Soekarnoputri administration discharged the two tycoons as well as freeing them from criminal liability.
Budy Satriyo, a criminal law expert from University of Indonesia, said a two-year window applied to the cases, meaning the government would still be able to resolve them by seeking to establish the value of the assets through independent experts.
"Based on their findings, we will look for new evidence in case both tycoons manipulate data or are involved in further corruption," he said, adding the applicable cut-off point in criminal cases was 12 years.
If such a path were taken, Budy said, the AGO would only decide on the case once the experts had finished valuing the assets.
"This is more effective than if we rely on the House (of Representatives) members to beg the government to explain the matter through the interpellation process," he said.
He said using the interpellation rights would be useless because lawmakers wouldn't have enough evidence to support their arguments.
The government is left with few alternatives for pursuing state funds allegedly misappropriated by two tycoons following prosecutors' decision to end investigations into the tycoons' alleged swindling of some Rp 81.1 trillion (US$8.96 billion) worth of Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) funds, a noted lawyer said.
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) announced on Friday it was dropping the Sudono Salim and Sjamsul Nursalim investigations for lack of evidence.
Todung Mulya Lubis from Indonesia Transparency International said Saturday the decision marked a bitter outcome to a much-watched investigation.
"That was the consequences that we had to face because the government allowed the two tycoons to pay for the debts with shares," he said.
He said the value of the shares was contingent on market conditions, creating risk, and intimated that the risk should have been foreseeable to the government.
Suggesting that it was time to move on, he said "Let's just focus on (smaller debtors) for the time being."
The AGO conducted an investigation after having discovered a huge drop in values of assets assigned to the state by Salim and Sjamsul in payment of obligations owed to the state.
In an earlier appraisal the assets used by Salim for repayment of the debt were found to be worth Rp 52.7 trillion. However, when the government sold them, the value had dropped to Rp 19.3 trillion.
Meanwhile, the assets received from Sjamsul were valued at Rp 28.4 trillion but sold for only Rp 4.9 trillion.
The government accepted a 92.8 stake in the Salim Group in repayment for BLBI debts totaling Rp 52.7 trillion. Salim also assigned the government other assets and companies as part of the deal.
Sjamsul, the owner of Gadjah Tunggal Group, handed over three of his companies to repay his Rp 28.4 trillion debt to the government.
The Megawati Soekarnoputri administration discharged the two tycoons as well as freeing them from criminal liability.
Budy Satriyo, a criminal law expert from University of Indonesia, said a two-year window applied to the cases, meaning the government would still be able to resolve them by seeking to establish the value of the assets through independent experts.
"Based on their findings, we will look for new evidence in case both tycoons manipulate data or are involved in further corruption," he said, adding the applicable cut-off point in criminal cases was 12 years.
If such a path were taken, Budy said, the AGO would only decide on the case once the experts had finished valuing the assets.
"This is more effective than if we rely on the House (of Representatives) members to beg the government to explain the matter through the interpellation process," he said.
He said using the interpellation rights would be useless because lawmakers wouldn't have enough evidence to support their arguments.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar