Former Minister of Justice & Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra and Hartono Tanoesoedibyo, the owner of PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika, remain untouched by the corruption case involving access revenues from the Legal Division Administrative System. Evidence collected from documents shows their involvement and the important roles they played in the corruption.
ZULKARNAEN Yunus, 57, frowned as soon as his former secretary, Aan Danu Giartono, answered the question of prosecutor Jefri Makapeduat. The answer differed to his statement in the investigation report.
According to Aan, the order to give monthly “honorarium” of Rp5 million to the Director-General of Legal Administration in the Justice & Human Rights Department came from Zulkarnaen, who that time was the director-general. However, in the investigation report, Aan stated that regarding honorarium and the amount, he was only continuing the policy of Romli Atmasasmita, Zulkarnaen’s predecessor.
“Which one is true? You are under oath and you have to be consistent,” Zulkarnaen yelled in high emotion to Aan during the trial at the South Jakarta District Court, last Wednesday, to which Aan gave a stuttering reply. “Well, I continued Pak Romli’s policy.”
Zulkarnaen is the defendant in the corruption case on the access revenue from the Legal Division Administrative System (sisminbakum) of the Justice Department. He has been charged along with Yohanes Waworuntu, former CEO of PT Sarana Rekatama Dinamika; Ali Amran Djanah, former Chairman of the Employee Protection Cooperative of the Justice Department; former Justice & Human Rights Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra; and Sutarmanto, former cooperative manager.
The case stemmed from cooperation between the cooperative and PT Sarana for an online service for company registration, establishment and changes in legal entity. The online service initiated by Romli was later known as the sisminbakum. PT Sarana both provided service application and also managed the site www.sisminbakum.com.
The cooperation contract signed on November 8, 2000 for 10 years stipulated Rp1.35 million for each registrant. From that registration fee, 90 percent went to PT Sarana while the cooperative only got 10 percent. Seven years later, the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) suspected corruption in the project which was inaugurated by then-Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
According to the AGO, the Rp1.35-million fee should have been booked to the state treasury as non-taxable income. However, as it happened, the fee instead went to the coffers of the company and a number of the directorate officials. The AGO estimated that the loss incurred to the state from the project reached Rp400 billion.
Yohanes was sentenced to four years in prison by the South Jakarta District Court. He was also fined Rp200 million and ordered to replace Rp3 billion lost by the state. On appeal, the Jakarta High Court reduced the sentence to two years’ imprisonment without fine and the obligation to replace the loss incurred from the corruption.
Though he was already named a suspect, Ali Imran has not been brought to court until now due to a permanent illness. Meanwhile, Yusril and Sutarmanto are still at the status of witness. The sisminbakum corruption case also brought down Romli and Syamsuddin Manan Sinaga, former Director-General of General Legal Administration, as convicts. The court sentenced Romli to two years in prison, Syamsuddin to a year and a half. At appeal level, Romli’s sentence was reduced to one year.
The cooperative which received only 10 percent from the sisminbakum registration fee still had to share it with the directorate general. The cooperative received 40 percent for the welfare of its members, while the remaining 60 percent was reserved for the directorate. The directorate’s share, according to Aan, was received in cash and went straight to a safe, the key and management of which were in the hand of the secretary of the director-general.
To the panel of judges headed by Tahsin, Aan said that the secretary had the job to distribute the money to the staff up to the director-general. The disbursement, according to him, no longer required the authorization of the director-general. The secretary too, did not have to prepare financial reports for the boss. “It’s disbursed just like that, as done before,” said Aan.
In the trial session on Wednesday, February 24, witness Hormat Tjapah, the directorate secretary who succeeded Aan, gave a similar testimony. As the secretary, Hormat admitted he held the key to the safe, received, and disbursed money without having to request permission from his boss. “I didn’t make reports,” he said. The cooperative’s fund was generally used to cover the operational expenses of the directorate, including honorariums, office equipment and stationery procurements, or allowances for official travels.
According to prosecutor Jefri, Zulkarnaen’s mistake was that he did not evaluate the practice but instead continued it at the same time enjoying commission from the sisminbakum access revenues each month. “The distribution of money was under his authority,” he said. In addition to being implicated in the sisminbakum case, Zulkarnaen had also been convicted of corruption in the automatic fingerprint identification system project and sentenced to four years in prison.
Observing the statements of both Aan and Hormat, Zulkarnaen’s lawyer, Sulistyowati, stated that the two were the most responsible for the use of the cooperative funds which was deemed an act of corruption by the prosecutor. “It’s a bit strange as to why they were only named witnesses,” she protested.
Doni Antares, Zulkarnaen’s other lawyer, also questioned why the AGO had not named Yusril as a suspect. Actually, he added, Yusril’s name was mentioned in the charges against Zulkarnaen as an accomplice in the crime. “The project was run based on the ministerial decree. Wasn’t it his decision?” he said. Moreover, as the cooperative founder, Yusril also signed the cooperation contract with PT Sarana.
The same argument was made by Yohanes. The father of three girls stressed to Tempo that the ones most responsible in the case were Yusril, Hartono Tanoesoedibjo as the owner of PT Sarana, and PT Sarana President Commissioner Gerard Yakobus. “They were the ones who designed the sisminbakum project,” he said.
According to Yohanes, in the charges against himself, Romli and Syamsuddin, Hartono’s and Yusril’s names were listed as witnesses who participated in the criminal act. “Yet Hartono’s name disappeared from Zulkarnaen’s charges. What’s going on?” he asked as he testified during Zulkarnaen’s trial on Wednesday, February 17.
Yohanes, who is currently under travel restrictions, explained how Hartono had cheated and made him a scapegoat in the case. In the PT Sarana deed of establishment No. 339/June 30, 2000, for example, Yohanes is stated as CEO whereas, he said, he signed his employment agreement in PT Bhakti Investama Tbk as general manager on July 25, 2000. “It was signed by me and Hartono,” he said.
Afterwards, Yohanes was appointed PT Sarana CEO on September 2, 2000. “So how could I be CEO since June 30?” he questioned while holding up a copy of his appointment letter as PT Sarana CEO. “I’ve just found out the date manipulation during the interrogation by the AGO,” he added.
According to him, PT Sarana began its operation long before he joined. The evidence, he said, is the fact that on July 18, 2000 there was a payment of Rp128 million from PT Sarana to PT Visual Teknindo Utama, the very company run by John Sarodja Saleh which designed the online company registration system. The payment for PT Visual was approved by Hartono.
Although being the CEO, Yohanes said he was merely a puppet, since the one with full authority to run PT Sarana, including making payments, was Hartono. “Not a cent went out without his approval,” he said showing a copy of PT Sarana’s expense record. He questioned why the prosecutor ignored all the documented evidence pointing to Hartono’s vital role.
Hartono was unavailable for comment regarding the allegations from Yohanes. When Tempo paid a visit to his office on the fifth floor of Kebon Sirih Tower, Nancy, a PT Bhakti Investama staffer, said that her boss was not in. Hartono’s lawyer, Marthen Pongrekun, declined to comment. “I am no longer representing him,” he answered. Likewise, Hartono’s other lawyer, Hotma Sitompul, said “Our team accompanied him only during the police questioning.”
Meanwhile Yusril repeatedly denied corruption in the sisminbakum project. “Go ahead, prove it,” he said (Tempo, November 24, 2008).
According to a source at the AGO, the case is not likely to bring down Yusril or Hartono, even if the investigation findings prove otherwise. The source suspects that it is due to their ties to those in power. However, Marwan Effendy, the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes, denied such rumor. According to him, the sisminbakum case is not over yet. The AGO is still evaluating the development and newer facts from the court. “For sure, I can’t say anything definite, but this case is still ongoing,” he told Erwin Daryanto from Tempo.
Anne L. Handayani
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