Jakarta. Former chief legal affairs minister Mohammad Mahfud MD on Thursday voiced strong opposition to the government’s idea of pardoning corruption convicts and suspects in return for payment.

If implemented, the pardon could amount to a fundamental mistake in the country’s justice system with far-reaching consequences, said Mahfud, who is also a law professor.

“In my opinion, such an idea isn’t just a common mistake – it would become a gross mistake if implemented,” Mahfud said in Jakarta. “A common mistake occurs due to wrong practices that become habitual. However, that idea has never been implemented before. There is no way we can settle a corruption case through payment.”

He explained that Indonesia’s anti-corruption laws don’t recognize financial settlement in corruption cases. Financial penalties handed to graft convicts are usually complementary to the prison sentences decided in criminal trials.

Several financial offenses such as unpaid customs duties or tax evasion can be settled through payment, but not corruption, Mahfud explained.

Mahfud said that taking payment from graft suspects or convicts in exchange for dropping their cases or lenient sentences is indeed a crime.

He noted that many police officers, prosecutors, and even judges had been arrested and charged with bribery for secretly accepting payment from graft suspects and convicts.

The controversy began when President Prabowo Subianto recently signaled that he is willing to pardon graft convicts who return the stolen state assets.

The president argued that it’s more important to recover the stolen assets and boost state revenues than punishing people.

His ministers were quick to defend his remarks and move to draft a regulation to implement the idea.

Yusril Ihza Mahendra, the coordinating minister for legal, human rights, immigration, and correctional affairs, said the government is taking a pragmatic approach to corruption cases rather than emphasizing the punitive measures, which he said didn’t help tackle the rampant corruption.

Justice Minister Supratman Andi Agtas also proposed a financial settlement in handling corruption cases.

The proposal could change the legal interpretation of corruption to civil cases rather than a crime.