Fewer corruption cases were brought to court in 2019, but total state losses incurred nearly doubled to Rp 8.4 trillion (US$614 million), the highest in five years, according to antigraft watchdog Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW).

An ICW survey found that 580 individuals were prosecuted in 271 corruption cases investigated by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the police and the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) last year, compared to 1,087 individuals and 454 cases in 2018.

Yet, the drop in the number of cases does not mean Indonesia has managed to root out corruption, the ICW report says.

“Indonesia has not yet succeeded in eradicating corruption,” ICW activist Wana Alamsyah told a press conference on Tuesday.

Wana pointed out that Indonesia ranked 97th of 126 surveyed countries in the Rule of Law Index by the World Justice Project, which measures the level of corruption. Indonesia ranks second-lowest among 15 countries in the East Asia and Pacific region, while neighboring Malaysia and Vietnam rank seventh and 13th respectively, and China ranked eight.

In Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index, Indonesia scored a low 40 points — where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 stands for clean — ranking it 85th of 180 countries surveyed in 2019. That marks a slight improvement from the 38 points and 89th rank Indonesia achieved in 2018.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, struggling to defend his record in fighting graft, has said that Indonesia’s success in fighting corruption should also be measured by the potential amount of state money that would otherwise have been lost through corruption, rather than just by the actual amount stolen, which is the yardstick the ICW uses.

A corruption case over a mining license that allegedly implicates East Kotawaringin Regent Supian Hadi alone accounted for Rp 5.8 trillion in state losses. The KPK named him a suspect in February 2019 for allegedly abusing his authority when issuing a business license to PT Fajar Mentaya Abadi, PT Billy Indonesia and PT Aries Iron Mining. The case is still under investigation.

Many of the corruption cases — investigations of which began in 2019 — revolved around lucrative contracts over energy projects, so in addition to financial losses, they might also cause environmental damage, Wana said.

Investigators and prosecutors should also slap money laundering charges on corruption suspects to help recuperate the state losses, he said, noting that such charges had been brought only in three cases in 2019.

“Unless they look into possible money laundering offenses, authorities are not serious in deterring the culprits,” Wana said.

The ICW found that bribery was the most common crime investigated last year, accounting for 51 of the total 271 corruption cases, followed by embezzlement of village funds with 46 cases, and other motives in the transportation and education sectors, as well as land procurement.

Government officials represented the largest number of individuals named graft suspects last year, with 213, followed by private sector employees with 149, village heads with 45 and state-owned enterprise officials with 26.

“The government is focusing more on prevention, so maybe that approach caused fewer recorded cases,” ICW activist Tama Satrya Langkun said.

The ICW found that police investigated 100 cases last year, compared to 235 in 2018, while the AGO handled 109 compared to 162. The KPK, which handles large corruption cases, probed 62 cases, up from 57 in 2018. (mfp)