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Activist Calls for Review of 1996 Case
Markus Junianto Sihaloho | December 06, 2011

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Legal activist Jhonson Panjaitan joined a panel discussion with other nongovernmental organizational commentators and lawmakers on Tuesday to discuss worsening corruption in the country and to bring attention of a stalled case to the new leadership team of the Corruption Eradication Commission.

Jhonson said the most strategic problem for law enforcement was public funds thieves who worked in such close coordination that they became like mafia members. He said at the discussion that the “mafia” included public servants from various bureaucracies, businessmen and professionals.

As a result of the mafia, cases such as the Balaraja fuel issue, dating back to 1996, are slow to come to justice.

Jhonson joined members of House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, in asking for a new focus on the case, which Jhonson said contained all the classic elements of the corruption mafia’s work.

Last week, commission members elected a new leadership team for the graft-fighting commission known as the KPK, for whom they hope the Balaraja case will be among the first items of business.

“With the new KPK members chosen, we will ask them to take over the case or at least to supervise it,” said Bambang Soesatyo, a commission member.

The case is currently being handled by the police and public prosecutors.

Bambang said Commission III members suspected there had been no action on the case, which has its roots in the procurement of a government-run fuel depot, because there were connections to politicians in high places.

“The Balaraja case is connected to the inner circle of the [state] palace, which makes it hard to touch. If the case is handled by the police, it will be tossed around randomly. Even if it makes it past the police stage, it can still be messed with at the prosecutors and court stage,” the Golkar lawmaker said.

The case involves a decision by state oil and gas firm Pertamina to build a large new fuel depot in Balaraja, Tangerang, in 1996.

The project, undertaken in conjunction with a private partner, involved the purchase of 20 hectares of land, the funds for which were borrowed from a third company, which held the title deeds as security.

The project was abandoned with the depot unbuilt when the Asian financial crisis hit in 1998 and ownership of both companies changed hands at knock-down prices.

The state eventually lost $12.8 million in public funds in legal action over the case in circumstances some found suspicious.