Online Corruption

This week the AGO will question former Justice & Human Rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra in relation to the Corporate Entity Administration System. The disbursement of funds by notaries not only ended up in the pockets of Justice Department senior officials.

PROFESSOR Romli Atmasasmita’s face was pale. Trembling, and slowly, the 64-year-old man signed his name on a piece of paper in front of him. The contents: a statement refusing to sign the police investigation report. As soon as he had finished writing his signature, Romli’s two lawyers, Juniver Girsang and Denny Kailimang, breathed a sigh of relief. Earlier, the two lawyers had repeatedly indicated to investigators that they should soon conclude the questioning. They were concerned because the interrogation had gone on for more than five hours, and the professor from the University of Padjadjaran in Bandung, who is known for being vocal in the war against corruption, was near collapse.

Investigators had indeed not yet got all the information they wanted to prize out the former Director-General for Public Legal Administration at the Department of Justice & Human Rights. Nevertheless, the end to the questioning did not automatically result in Romli being able to go home. On the contrary, investigators ordered Romli’s arrest. The order caused Romli to become enraged. “This was all planned beforehand,” said Romli. That afternoon Romli officially became an occupant of the Attorney General’s detention center.

The criminal law expert, who also formulated the Anticorruption Law, was indicted on charges related to a Justice Department’s Corporate Entity Administration System (Sisminbakum) corruption case. This is a system used to manage permits and changes to corporate entities provided online through the website http://www.sisminbakum.com. The project represents a cooperative effort between the Employees Protection Cooperative at the Department of Justice and PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika. The money meanwhile was deposited into an account held by Sarana. It was only after this that the cooperative received a 10 percent portion from Sarana.

Prior to Romli’s arrest, two other suspects were detained over the case—Director-General of Public Legal Administration at the Department of Justice & Human Rights, Syamsudin Manan Sinaga, and former Director-General of Legal Administration, Zulkarnain Yunus.

The AGO already has evidence implicating Romli in the case. According to Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Marwan Effendy, a number of documents indicate that Romli could reasonably be held responsible for the Sisminbakum project, which collected money from thousands of notaries. In addition to initiating the project, Romli designated the use of the money resulting from the system. Since it was launched around seven years ago—according to the AGO’s calculations—the system has collect monies amounting to some Rp400 billion.

One of the key pieces of evidence in the AGO’s possession is a letter from Romli directed to cooperative members dated June 14, 2001. In the letter, Romli, as the Director-General of Administration, asked for cooperation in managing the Sisminbakum. It is this, according to Marwan, which provided the opportunity to utilize the money for all sorts of needs. “Whereas the money should have gone straight into the state’s coffers,” said Marwan.

The AGO has also seized a written agreement of cooperation between the Directorate General of Public Legal Administration and the Employees Protection Cooperative signed by Romli. The contents of the agreement regulate the allocation of 10 percent of the funds from the access fee being deposited into the Cooperative’s bank account. Based upon this agreement, it regulates an allocation of 6 percent for the Directorate General of Public Legal Administration and 4 percent to the Cooperative.

Investigators discovered other crimes allegedly committed by Romli. As the director-general, each month Romli received at least Rp5 million from the allotment of Cooperative fees. According to Marwan, although Romli took the money, he consistently refused to sign receipts handed to him. “This information came from witnesses that we questioned,” said Marwan. This, said Marwan, was different from Zulkarnain and Syamsudin. Zulkarnain always signed the receipts handed to him. Syamsudin meanwhile later followed Romli’s example: he wanted the money, but was unwilling to sign for it. When Tempo caught up with him last week, Romli vehemently denied the charges.

The AGO is indeed continuing to hunt down documents that can be used to uncover the corruption committed by Justice Department officials. According to a Tempo source, the AGO is also in the process of preparing to seize the remaining Rp2 billion funds collected by the Sisminbakum and held in the Cooperative’s treasury.

Two of the documents that are most sought-after are evidence of the “entry and exit” of funds in and out of the Cooperative’s treasury and the PT Sarana account. According to a Tempo source, one of the pieces of evidence already in the possession of AGO investigators is a Cooperative ledger that contains records on where exactly the money generated by the Corporate Entity Administration System went. And it was not just to directorate officials. There is, for example, a record of funds also “flowing” to Yusril Ihza Mahendra’s wife, Sukesih, amounting to around Rp15 million. This money was “travel funds” for Sukesih to go overseas. This week the AGO plans to summon Sukesih for questioning.

The billions of rupiah in funds were indeed used for many things. Not just as a “free for all” for Justice Department officials, but also for various departmental activities and necessities, including overseas trips. Romli for example, aside from receiving US$40,000, is recorded as once using US$2,000 of the Sisminbakum’s money for an overseas trip. A number of University of Indonesia lecturers are also recorded as having accepted money. They received the money after being invited as speakers by the Directorate General of General Legal Administration. The amounts were around Rp2 million and Rp3 million.

According to Marwan, the funds also flowed to several other justice ministers. Marwan however was reluctant to reveal their names. What is certain is that the system itself was at some time “under” the control of several different ministers. They are Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Baharuddin Lopa, Marsillam Simandjuntak, Mahfud Md., Muladi, Hamid Awaludin and Andi Mattalata.

The Sisminbakum itself has also had its “ups and downs” under respective ministers. Hamid Awaludin, for example, once sent a letter to the Finance Minister questioning the legality of the fees. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati replied to the letter in January 2007 and the Sisminbakum was placed in the category of non-taxable state revenue.

The Indonesian Notaries Association (INI) management board also once sent a letter to Marsillam Simandjuntak asking that the system not be implemented too tightly. INI requested that in addition to the online system, that its members still be able to use the manual system. According to one INI member, Marsillam agreed to the request. “Unfortunately, Marsillam was not the minister for long. As soon as he was removed to become the Attorney General, the system returned to being fully online,” said the notary.

The AGO is now in the process of looking into the flow of monies into and out of the Sarana Rekatama Dinamika account. Investigators are positive that it is from here that much of the money was disbursed. The Sarana account itself, which is held at Bank Danamon on Jl. Jenderal Sudirman in Central Jakarta, has already been frozen. The AGO has also asked the Financial Transactions Reporting & Analysis Center to look into exactly where the money from the Sarana account flowed to.

According to the head of the investigative team, Faried Harianto, they have already investigated the trail of funds to and from the account. “The trail is tortuous and winding,” he said. It appears that funds were not just deposited in the Sarana account at Bank Danamon in Sudirman. From Sudirman, the funds were also transferred to Bank Danamon’s Kebon Sirih branch. From here, the money then “flew” off to a number of overseas banks. Several Sarana officials have already been summoned by the AGO. Last Tuesday for example, the AGO requested information from Bambang Rudijanto Tanoesoedibjo and Hartono Tanoesoedibjo, owners of Sarana.

A big job does indeed now face Marwan’s troops: to unravel and fully crack the “Sisminbakum scandal”. According to a Tempo source, because the case is connected with a number of important people, it is quite possible that AGO investigators will “fall asleep” during the investigation.

Aside from Sukesih, over the next few weeks the AGO will also summon Yusril Ihza Mahendra and a number of other people who allegedly received money from the Employees Protection Cooperative or PT Sarana. When Tempo ran into Yusril on Wednesday last week, he stated that no corruption had been committed in relation to the Corporate Entity Administration System project. He also said that the AGO can go ahead and question Sukesih. “Please go ahead and prove it,” he said. The drama of the Corporate Entity Administration System will indeed still be a long one, and presumably it will also present some new “celebrities”.

Ramidi, Rini Kustiani, Munawwaroh/LRB

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