‘Admiral Cheng Ho’ catches the eye of AGO

Abdul Khalik , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta Thu, 11/13/2008 7:49 AM Headlines
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has turned its attention to former justice and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra in a Rp 400 billion (US$36 million) graft case after all of his implicated former colleagues dropped his name on the witness stand.
Assistant attorney general for special crimes Marwan Effendi said Wednesday that Yusril, who played the lead role in TV series Cheng Ho, would be questioned next Tuesday.
“All suspects and witnesses have blamed him but we are yet to find indications of his involvement. But when we do, we will enforce the law,” Marwan said.
The AGO has arrested Syamsuddin Manan Sinaga, incumbent director general of legal administration at the ministry, and two of his predecessors, Romli Atmasasmita and Zul-karnain Yunus, over their involvement in the case.
The case centers on the distribution of funds allegedly embezzled from a legal administration website run by the ministry’s directorate general of legal administration, provided by private company PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika (SRD).
The website, www.sisminbakum. com, had since 2001 allowed legal entities to register for permits and nominate notaries. The services on offer ranged in price from Rp 250,000 to Rp 1 million.
The directorate general received 200 applications daily from notaries throughout the country, generating monthly revenue of Rp 5 billion to Rp 9 billion, AGO data shows.
The prosecutors said that instead of submitting the money to the state coffers as non-tax revenue, SRD took 90 percent of the revenue, while 4 percent went to the ministry and the rest to ministry officials, distributed by seniority.
Secretary-general, the AGO says, received Rp 5 million per month and directors general Rp 10 million.
Romli, a professor of law, Syamsuddin and Zulkarnain said they had just followed the decision signed by Yusril, their boss at that time.
Yusril, who is also a former Cabinet secretary, admitted to signing the 2000 decree appointing SRD to build the website, and another 2000 decree on the activation of the system.
“But there’s no violation of the law in the decrees. I can appoint the company because the project doesn’t use state money,” he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Yusril said income at ministerial levels was non-tax revenue as stipulated by a government decree signed by the President, and added that the President had never issued a decree requiring income generated by the website be transferred to the state as non-tax revenue despite the system running for eight years.
“So, what is the legal basis for the AGO to define the income as non-tax revenue if the government decree doesn’t exist?” Yusril said.
“The system never used state money as it was purely built by a private company. Doesn’t the AGO realize this?”
However, legal expert Irman Putra Sidin said it was unclear whether the officials had received the money and if Yusril had benefited from it.
“If there is evidence that officials received money from the website then it is a gratuity. The prosecutors should charge them under the 1999 corruption law,” he said.