ATTORNEY GENERAL SEES 'SOMETHING WRONG' IN GAYUS CASE

Jakarta, March 23 (ANTARA) - Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said he believed "something wrong" had happened in the handling of the case of Gayus HP Tambunan.

"To me it seems yes (there was something wrong in the handling of the case)," he said here on Tuesday.

The Tangerang district court had earlier acquitted tax official Gayus HP Tambunan in connection with his alleged involvement in tax embezzlement.

The ruling was far from what the prosecutor had demanded namely a year in prison and a year on probation.

The case blew up after former national police chief detective Susno Duadji disclosed brokers playing a role in the handling of the case.

Hendarman however said Susno's claim still had to be proven, adding it could not only be determined by mere observation.

"There must be evidence. It would be wrong to just observing it. Let the evidence speak for itself," he said.

He said he observed there was something wrong in the system of the handling of the case.

A member of the government's task force to fight "court mafia" networks, Denny Indrayana, confirmed the attorney general's observation after holding a meeting with the attorney general.

"It seems there are indeed indications about it," he said.

Denny said the question is where the funds totalling around Rp24 billion in the Gayus's account have gone to.

"Only Rp442 are left now," he said.

Hendarman said he has set up an independent team to examine the Gayus case.

"The team will study if the system worked in the case," he said after meeting with the task force.

He said the results of the team's study would be reconciled with the results of the police's examination into the case.

He said he would also let the examination of the prosecutors in the case to see "if they have violated the system."
The task force's chief, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said the meeting had discussed not only the Gayus case but also other cases under public scrutiny such as the Asian Agri case and the handling of the case involving convict Ayin's brother and sister.
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