The Fact Finding Team appointed by the President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or SBY, has held a press conference to relay their findings and what they intend to put in writing to the president. It is worth noting that the fact finding team, or the Team of Eight as it is known, have no real powers to stop the investigations by the police or the Office of the Attorney General (AGO).
Nevertheless, considering that SBY went to the trouble of appointing the team means that if he does not follow through on what the team finds, then he will look like he is dragging his feet and this can only be a negative in the long-term for the president and his legacy.
The fact finding team has reported that the police and the AGO do not have a case against Chandra and Bibit. The evidence that they offered up to the team as proof of the case has been deemed inadequate. It has been deemed to be insufficient to sustain the indictment and it has been deemed to not be sufficient to get a conviction. This is a pretty big slap in the face for both the police and the AGO.
It is worth noting that this is also a pretty big slap in the face for the president as well. He steadfastly refused to become involved and his reluctance to do so has shown him to be weak on ant-corruption measures and willing to do whatever it takes to avoid making the hard decisions and upsetting the apple cart. The failures in this case will continue to haunt SBY for some time. They might also be instrumental in undermining any legacy that he thought he might be leaving with respect to being a reformer and corruption fighter.
What the interim report does put into play now is how should those who remain be dealt with. This is particularly so for the lead actor in this charade, Anggodo. Anggodo by his own admission has seemingly said he was trying to bribe members of the KPK and had disbursed money for that purpose. If there is no evidence, and the fact finding team says that there is not, then Anggodo must be charged with obstruction of justice type violations and making an attempt to bribe members of the KPK.
Furthermore, the Chief of Police and the Attorney General must also be investigated to determine what they knew and when. It seems that both were either involved in the construction of the case against Chandra and Bibit or were aware early that it was a fabrication. Both men have fronted the relevant Commission at the DPR and claimed that there is evidence of the extortion and bribes being completed, In essence, they have suggested that both the police and the AGO intend to pursue the matter to its conclusion.
The only way that either can avoid the pink slip treatment is to prove that to all intents and purposes they were "just doing their jobs". Somehow this seems unlikely.
It appears that round three, four, and five have gone to the KPK as well. The police and the AGO are taking a beating in not only the courts of law but the court of public opinion as well.
Time to give this one up.
1 comment:
This won't really have success, I feel like this.
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