KPK eyes 3 firms for corporate corruption

JAKARTA. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is looking into corruption allegations implicating three firms in what could be the commission's first corporate graft investigation.

“Based on [KPK] leaders’ instruction, this year we will prosecute three corporations for alleged corrupt acts,” KPK legal division head Setiadi said during a discussion in Jakarta on Wednesday.

He, however, declined to name the corporations.

Former KPK deputy chairman Chandra M. Hamzah, who now runs a law firm, and Attorney General’s Office (AGO) official Undang Magopal were also present as speakers in the discussion.

The Supreme Court issued on Dec.29 last year a regulation that provided detailed guidelines for judges in cases pertaining to companies undergoing prosecution for various criminal offenses, including corruption and money laundering.

The new regulation was issued following the KPK's complaint over the lack of clarity in relation to the prosecution of companies in the 2001 Corruption Law. It was worried the loophole could prevent companies from being legally punished in court.

Under the regulation, companies can be fined if they are found to have benefited from a crime or allowed a crime to occur. Their assets will be confiscated should they fail to pay the fine.

Before the 2016 regulation was signed, there were no solid legal framework that treated corporations as legal offenders. Law enforcers could only charge individual executives of the firms.