Inanity Rules

THE ruling by Justice Haswandi is very dangerous for law enforcement, especially the endeavor to eradicate corruption. He granted a pretrial suit filed by Hadi Poernomo on the grounds that the Corruption Investigation Commission (KPK) investigator handling the case involving the former tax director-general acted illegally because he had already retired from the police. The legal consideration by the South Jakarta District Court was weak because the KPK holds the authority to recruit its own investigators from outside the police and the Attorney General's Office.

There have been no problems with the hundreds of other cases that have been handled by the same investigator, and some of them have even been taken to the final court of appeal. This means that the Supreme Court accepted the existence of investigators directly appointed by the KPK. Justice Haswandi should have looked at the facts when he ruled on Hadi Poernomo's legal challenge. The former head of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) filed a challenge against the KPK through a pretrial suit after the KPK indicted him for the alleged abuse of authority in the BCA taxation case when he held the job of tax director-general. Losses to the state because of it are believed to be Rp2 trillion.