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Bashir-Like Consequences Await Accused Who Refuse to Break Silence, Kalla Warns
Markus Junianto Sihaloho | September 02, 2011

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Roland
10:24am Sep 2, 2011

Ok, Bashir-like consequences, what does that mean? 15 years max. in jail, with a bunch of remissions every forsaken holiday or so, meaning he'll be out in 5 - 6 years?

This fellow deserves it anyway, regardless of if he now opens his foul mouth or not! $700 Million within a few years embezzled? That deserves life in jail and NOT Bashir-like consequences.

And what else is obvious is that there seems to be now functioning control mechanism within the government to catch white collar criminals like Nazaruddin at a far earlier time. The fault for him having been able to embezzle such a staggering amount is not only found in his bottomless greed but also in the lack of control.

devine
10:23am Sep 2, 2011

After obviously stealing a whooping USD700 million he should be sentenced to a lengthy (life!) jail time ANYWAY. And all the other involved too...

___

And WHY immunity for his wife??? She is accused too (what a family!) and should therefore be arrested too.

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Graft suspect Muhammad Nazaruddin should end his self-imposed silence and start spilling the beans on a raft of corruption cases or risk lengthy jail time, a top official suggested on Thursday.

Jusuf Kalla, the former vice president, said Nazaruddin should learn from the case of firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who refused to cooperate with investigators in his terrorism trial earlier this year and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

He added that if the former Democratic Party treasurer failed to submit evidence about other top Democrats he has alleged were involved in corruption, then hopes for a far-reaching graft probe would be dashed.

“Nazaruddin should know that his claims against the others don’t constitute legal evidence,” Kalla said. “He must submit physical evidence now. But if he remains silent, it can be perceived as his inability to refute the investigators’ evidence against himself.”

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) says Nazaruddin is implicated in at least 31 corruption cases across several ministries, totaling Rp 6 trillion ($700 million).

He was arrested in Colombia last month after going on the run for three months, during which time he made a slew of graft allegations against other politicians, including Democratic chairman Anas Urbaningrum.

Since his arrest and repatriation, however, he has remained mostly silent, even claiming at one point that he would “forget everything” in exchange for immunity for his wife, Neneng Sri Wahyuni, who is also a graft fugitive.

Last week, however, Nazaruddin said he would be willing to talk if he was granted a transfer from Depok’s maximum-security Kelapa Dua detention center to the more lax Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta.

Kalla said such a move would be acceptable, but only if the suspect held up his end of the bargain. “I think his request for a transfer should be fulfilled. But if a week later he still hasn’t talked, then he should be sent back to Depok,” he said.

Bambang Soesatyo, a Golkar Party legislator, agreed that the KPK should meet Nazaruddin’s demands — including immunity for his wife — to ensure he spoke out about the graft cases he was familiar with. “I think if all the charges against Neneng were dropped, he would talk,” he said.

Separately, the National Police announced on Wednesday that it had dismissed Comr. Basuki as the chief warden of the Kelapa Dua facility, just days after it was discovered that Nazaruddin had been allowed to keep a BlackBerry mobile phone in his cell. But National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo said the dismissal was not linked to the phone incident.