The conflict potential emerged after the Bareskrim submitted a letter on the start of an investigation to Attorney General.
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Kompas/Alif Ichwan
House Speaker Setya Novanto attends a hearing as a witness in the trial of defendant Andi Agustinus, alias Andi Narogong, in the e-ID corruption case at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Friday (3/11). Other witnesses are PT Quadra Solution president director Anang Sugiana Sudiharjo, PT Sandipala Arthapura financial staff members Fajri Agus Setyawan and Deniarto Suhartono, former Home Ministry official Endah Lestari and ministry civil registry general affairs head Rudy Indrato Raden.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The potential for conflict between the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the National Police must be avoided with regard to the police’s move in investigating a case that allegedly involves two KPK leaders. Such a conflict would only disadvantage corruption eradication and law enforcement.
The conflict potential emerged after the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) submitted a letter on the start of an investigation – the SPDP B/263/XI/ 2017/Dittipidum – to Attorney General Prasetyo. The letter, issued on Nov. 7 and signed by Bareskrim general crimes director Brig. Gen. Rudolf Nahak, concerned a fraudulent letter and abuse of power by KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo and KPK deputy chairman Saut Situmorang.
The SPDP was issued four days after the KPK sent its own letter to House Speaker Setya Novanto. The KPK’s letter, issued on Nov. 3, states that the KPK had started its investigation on Oct. 31, 2017 into a corruption case on the e-ID card project that involved Novanto, along with Anang Sugiana, Andi Agustinus, Irman and Sugiharto.
Prevention
The police’s SPDP of Nov. 7 is based on an Oct. 9 report submitted by Sandy Kurniawan, a lawyer of the Yunadi & Associates law firm. The report concerns a travel ban request for Novanto that the KPK filed with the Law and Human Rights Ministry on Oct. 2. Earlier on Sept. 29, the South Jakarta District Court had ruled that Novanto’s suspect status in relation to the e-ID case was invalid.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Setyo Wasisto said Sandy’s report was elevated to investigation status after Bareskrim had questioned six witnesses, three criminal experts, one linguist and one constitutional law expert.
“The investigators have also explained the case to the media. Since Nov. 7, the report has been raised to an investigation. But there is no suspect yet,” he said in Jakarta on Wednesday (8/11).
In order to determine a suspect, the National Police would again question several witnesses and gather evidence. After that, Setyo said, the investigators would summon those who were named in the report.
When receiving a copy of the SPDP at the Jakarta Bareskrim office on Wednesday, Fredrich Yunadi, Novanto’s lawyer, appreciated the police taking action to investigate the report soon.
KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah believed in the police’s objectivity in investigating the report. “The KPK has a bad record of KPK leaders being dismissed amidst its investigation into a big corruption case. I hope this will not be repeated,” he said.
In 2009, the police named KPK deputy chairpersons Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah suspects in an abuse of power case. The case, which garnered high public attention and became known as “the lizard vs. the crocodile” was triggered by a travel ban request that Bibit and Chandra had issued.
University of Indonesia police science lecturer Bambang Widodo Umar said the investigation into the case concerning Agus and Saut could potentially trigger a new conflict between the police and the KPK. He hoped the National Police leadership would coordinate with the KPK leadership to discuss the case in detail, so that both sides were familiar with it. “If there is no coordination between leaders of the two institutions, this case could be a repeat of the Bibit and Chandra case,” Bambang said.
Questioning
After ordering a new investigation into the e-ID case at the end of October, the KPK has continued summoning several witnesses for questioning. Yesterday, the KPK questioned former home minister Gamawan Fauzi and lawyer Hotma Sitompul on their connection to Setya Novanto and PT Quadra Solution director Anang Sugiana Sudiharja.
Meanwhile, Jakarta High Court chief justice Ester Siregar has issued a verdict on the appeal filed by two defendants in the e-ID case: former Home Ministry civil registry director Irman and the ministry’s civil administration director, Sugiharto.
Earlier, the district court had sentenced Irman to 7 years in prison and Sugiharto to 5 years. The high court’s verdict on their appeal added fines of Rp 500 million for Irman and Rp 400 million for Sugiharto.
The high court’s verdict also strengthens the ruling at the district court, which did not include Novanto as a party to the crime along with Irman and Sugiharto.
House of Representatives member Bara Hasibuan of the National Mandate Party faction said the case around Novanto had taken the House hostage. “Whatever we do to improve the House’s image is useless. The public will see the House in a negative way, because its speaker has a problem,” he said.
Bara said there were many House members who listened to the aspirations of their constituents and who worked hard in attending important meetings at the House. “But, all are overshadowed by Novanto. We have become hostages [of the case],” he said.
