Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin has revealed that the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has arrested 78 fugitives so far this year through a program aptly called Tangkap Buronan (Catching Fugitives), or Tabur.
“That is equivalent to an average 9 or 10 fugitives [arrested] per month,” Sanitiar said in a virtual meeting with lawmakers of House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees law enforcement, on Thursday, tempo.co reported.
The AGO’s legal information center head, Hari Setiyono, said earlier that Tabur had been initiated by the office’s intelligence division, aiming at seizing fugitives with the status of suspects, defendants or convicts across the country.
House Commission III chairman Herman Hery argued that the AGO, as a state institution authorized to enforce the law, should be more involved in upholding the rule of law, protecting the public interest and human rights and eradicating corruption.
“In carrying out its duties, the AGO is in a strategic role in strengthening national resilience,” Herman said.
Herman pointed out the recent alleged assistance from prosecutor Pinangki Sirna Malasari for graft convict Djoko Soegiarto Tjandra when the latter was on the run after his involvement in the Bank Bali corruption case.
“We are shocked by the presence of a prosecutor [allegedly] involved in a bribery case in regard to handling a plea for [the acquittal] of Djoko Tjandra at the Supreme Court,” Herman said.
The AGO is in hot water over its prosecutor’s alleged involvement in Djoko’s filing a case review request over his conviction in the high-profile graft case.
Pinangki stood trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Wednesday on charges of money laundering and bribery after allegedly agreeing to accept bribes amounting to US$500,000 from Djoko for conspiring to secure an acquittal for him from the Supreme Court.
House Commission III asked the AGO for further explanation regarding the case and for an assurance that the office would act objectively in handling the case. (syk)
