JakartaPost-Dec 20, 2024
President Prabowo Subianto has said he might pardon people who engaged in graft if they return what they stole to underline his commitment to tackling corruption; a plan that’s efficiency to recover state losses was immediately questioned by observers. Speaking before hundreds of Indonesian university students in Cairo on Wednesday during his visit to Egypt, Prabowo said he would implement a plan to retrieve ill-gotten gains in the coming weeks or months. “Hey, you corrupters, or those who have stolen from the people. If you return what you stole, we might forgive you. But please return it,” Prabowo said. He did not give details on his plan, but said his government might provide ways for wrongdoers to discreetly return what was stolen. Antigraft activists were quick to raise their eyebrows upon hearing the President’s statement, suggesting that pardoning graft suspects and convicts could harm the country’s effort to fight corruption. “While the President may have good intentions, the idea contradicts the prevailing Anticorruption Law, which mandates that returning state losses doesn’t eliminate the crime,” said Zaenur Rohman of the Gadjah Mada University’s Center for Anticorruption Studies (Pukat UGM). “Rather than offering pardons, the government should instead create an effective instrument to encourage anticorruption [efforts] and support firm and tough actions against graft suspects.” Rather than pardoning graft convicts, Zaenur suggested that the government consider adopting a deferred prosecution agreement, an approach under which parties charged with a criminal offence can reach an agreement with prosecutors to have their legal proceedings suspended in exchange for several conditions being met, such as payment of a financial penalty and compensation. Read more at:
