The Attorney General's Office promised on Nov 26^th  to complete corruption cases throughout the country within three months, including a review of big cases. After being previously pressed by legislators, Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh disclosed at a house hearing that his office would review cases that had been buried by the so-called "order to stop investigation", popularly known as SP3.

To accelerate the handling of corruption cases, The Attorney General issued Circular No. SE-007/A/JA/11/2004 on the Expediting of the Handling of Corruption Cases Throughout Indonesia (the “Circular”). It is expected that this Circular will play a significant role in allowing the recently inaugurated President to meet his campaign promises, particularly with respect to make significant inroads in the eradication of corruption during his first 100 days of office. The Circular explicitly refers to the Presidential Instruction of 21 October 2004 which outlined the government’s policy for the eradication of corruption, collusion, and nepotism or as it is known in Indonesia, KKN.

The Circular, dated 26 November 2004, instructed every chief of State Prosecutor’s Offices (“SPO”) throughout Indonesia to (i) conclude all corruption cases at the provincial and city/regent levels within three months (20 October 2004 - 20 January 2005), (ii) cases of particular concern to the public (involving state officials or notable businesses) must be prioritized, all SPOs are obligated to report its progress to the Attorney General, (iii) Chief of regent/city/provincial SPOs are responsible for the success of the prosecutions, indictment, execution of special criminal verdicts, among other, requisitors, appeal memorials, supreme court appeals and its counter memorials and executions towards final and binding court rulings, (iv) Chiefs of SPOs are responsible for the management and protection of evidences, including relevant documents or evidence seized from related parties, (v) they must also report to their superiors should they find any difficulties relating to their tasks. The circular ends with an entreaty to all prosecutors and staff to “begin this minute to guard their moral integrity and decline bribes in whatever form.”

In a hearing with the House of Representative, Law Comission (“HoR”) Abdul Rahman Saleh said that The Attorney General's Office has already reviewed two SP3s and before the three-month deadline expires they expected to have reviewed five big cases with SP3s.

As part of these efforts, Saleh told the Commission that the the Attorney General Office (“AGO”) was ready to begin legal proceedings in 76 separate corruption cases. Hukumonline website reported that 38 of the 62 cases prepared had been submitted to the courts in the first five weeks of his tenure.

Of the 17 SP3 orders issued under the previous government, Saleh said the AGO team had singled out five for special consideration. Two orders were currently the subject of indepth reviews to “determine if their issuance complied with relevant regulations”. Among the cases undergoing indepth reviews is a corruption case allegedly involving former mines and energy minister and current chairman of the Regional Representatives Council, Ginandjar Kartasasmita. Ginandjar was first charged with corruption in the case involving state oil and gas company Pertamina and private company PT Ustraindo Petro Gas in 2001. Former Attorney General MA Rachman may also be subjected to investigation for failing to report substantial assets bought with funds of unclear origin, also sanctioned the second SP3 order that Saleh has now singled out for review. Among the cases ceased by MA Rachman’s administration involved Chinese-Indonesian businessman Sjamsul Nursalim who received  Rp37 trillion ($4.11 billion at current rates) under the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) (mma).