Indonesia - police drop tobacco graft case, sparking suspicions..

Indonesian National Police
October 25, 2010 - The police have dropped an investigation into possible graft on the omission of a proposed clause in the 2009 Law on Health, allegedly due to political interference.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Iskandar Hasan said Tuesday the decision to discontinue the investigation was made without any interference from outside parties.
“It was due to an order from the Director of Transnational Security and Crimes at the Detective Division whose detectives have failed to find any criminal charges in the case. “This is neither a sudden decision nor due to political interference. This has been through a long discussion,” Iskandar told the press.

He said it was still possible for detectives to reopen the case if new evidence would be found.

Background:

October 2009 - we reported a section regulating tobacco as an addictive substance in the newly passed Health Law has been removed despite approvals from the legislative and executive branch, a former lawmaker has revealed on Wednesday, October 14th. (Indonesia - missing tobacco regulation in approved Health Law..; Indonesia - section on tobacco in health bill disappears..)

March 22, 2010 - Indonesia - persons accused of eliminating clause designating tobacco as addictive..

September 22, 2010 - Indonesia - confusion regarding possible suspects regarding the missing clause from the health bill passed in September 2009..

Indonesia Corruption Watch researcher Adnan Topan Husodo said he suspected the police decision was a “political trade” to compensate for Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Golkar Party support for the government in order to secure Timur’s appointment.

This case was initially reported in March by a group of NGOs called the Coalition for Anti-Tobacco Clause Corruption (KAKAR). Tulus Abadi from the Indonesian Consumers Association (YLKI) said the coalition would file a pre-trial lawsuit with the South Jakarta District Court against the police decision to drop the case.

Reference: Police drop tobacco graft case, sparking suspicions, Bagus BT Saragih, The Jakarta Post, 10/20/2010.

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