•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

Aday after its treasurer was accused by the anti-money laundering agency of making a suspiciously large transaction, the antigraft body contested the claim, saying that what might have looked like illicit maneuvering was nothing of the sort.

Busyro Muqoddas, a senior figure at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the money in question had only passed through the treasurer’s account as a matter of procedure and was very quickly relayed on to state coffers.

“PPATK’s report is not true,” Busyro said, referring to the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center.

“We have sent a letter today to correct its statement.”

Since the money in question had been confiscated in dollars, it needed to be changed into rupiah, Busyro explained. To do this, the treasurer used his own account.

“The money was deposited in our treasurer’s account as if it was remitted from abroad,” Busyro said. “But the money was immediately transferred to the state.”

On Monday, PPATK chief Muhammad Yusuf told House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, that there had been 1,800 suspicious transactions involving accounts held by police, judges, lawmakers and others. One KPK official was included in that group, Yusuf said at the time.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi said his office was now investigating the claims outlined in the PPATK reports to see if there were indications of corruption in any of the transactions.

Some lawmakers called on PPATK to provide more information about the suspicious transactions. Others blasted the PPATK reports, saying the agency’s decision to make public such raw data was a politically motivated smear campaign intended to destroy public trust in the House.

United Development Party (PPP) lawmaker Ahmad Yani said PPATK could not publish the transactions without doing due diligence on them first. Just because a transaction is large, he said, it is not necessarily illegal.

“PPATK should make clear first if the transactions really are a crime before going to the public,” he said. “I am afraid the publication will discredit the House as a whole.”

Ahmad said many lawmakers had accused the PPATK of unveiling the transactions expressly to damage the House’s image.

“It has been seen as an effort by the executive body — and the PPATK chief is appointed by the president — to destroy the legislature,” he said.

Lawmaker Pramono Anung agreed. “We could lose our legitimacy as people see us all as corruptors,” said Pramono, who comes from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Lawmaker Anis Matta of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) said the reports had terrorized the members of the House.

Yusuf has been seen as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s personal appointee, and antigraft activists have voiced concern that the two’s close relationship could undermine the agency’s neutrality.