The case of theft of evidence by the KPK employee and the granting of the judicial review for Lucas was a blow to the corruption eradication agency.
By
PRAYOGI DWI SULISTYO/DIAN DEWI PURNAMASARI
·4 minutes read
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The anti-corruption movement in the country has suffered from two blows at almost the same time. On the one hand, the Supervisory Board of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) announced that a KPK employee stole evidence in the form of 1.9 kilograms of gold. On the other hand, the Supreme Court granted lawyer Lucas a request for judicial review in the case of obstructing an investigation by the KPK.
The dishonorable dismissal of IGA, a KPK employee who stole 1.9 kilograms of gold, was disclosed by the chairman of the Supervisory Board (Dewas) of the KPK, Tumpak H. Panggabean, Thursday (8/4/2021), in Jakarta. "The person concerned is a member of the task force assigned to store and manage evidence at the Directorate of Evidence Management and Execution at the KPK," Tumpak said.
IGA took the evidence in the Yaya Purnomo case several times from the evidence storage area in January 2020 and was only discovered in June 2020. Yaya Purnomo is a former Finance Ministry official who was involved in a case of bribery and gratuities in the management of special allocation funds.
Besides having the potential to cause state losses, IGA\'s action also tarnishes the image of the KPK, which is known to have high integrity. According to Tumpak, the KPK leadership had decided that this case would be brought to the criminal realm and had been reported to the South Jakarta Police. IGA has also been questioned by police investigators. The decision taken by the Supervisory Board will not abolish the criminal action against IGA.
Several years ago, the KPK also legally processed an employee who abused his authority. The former KPK investigator, Adj. Comr. Suparman, was prosecuted for receiving money, cell phones and crystal prayer beads from Tintin Surtini, a witness he examined in the corruption case of PT Industri Sandang Nusantara. A former KPK employee, Endro Laksono, was also legally processed for using the remaining money from his official travels.
Review on Lucas
Yesterday, Deputy Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for Judicial Affairs Andi Samsan Nganro said the Supreme Court confirmed the mistake in the cassation verdict because lawyer Lucas had insufficient evidence to prevent the KPK from pursuing Eddy Sindoro, who is a former executive of a large conglomerate, related to bribery to the clerk of the Central Jakarta District Court.
The judicial review (PK) verdict for the Lucas case was handed down on April 7, 2021, by the panel of judges presided over by Salman Luthan, and with Abdul Latif and Sofyan Sitompul as member judges. Andi said that on the basis of this verdict, the convict was acquitted of all charges by the public prosecutors. Salman expressed a dissenting opinion on the verdict with the consideration that the reason for the convict’s judicial review was groundless according to law and contradictory to the legal facts revealed at the trial. Therefore, the reason for the judicial review must be rejected.
Acting KPK spokesman Ali Fikri said the discharge of a corruption convict at the judicial review level hurt the public\'s sense of justice. Meanwhile, Lucas\' lawyer Aldres Napitupulu said that after the judicial review was granted, Lucas should have been released. However, he is still waiting for the results of the verdict.
Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta professor Azyumardi Azra said the case of theft of evidence by the KPK employee and the granting of the judicial review for Lucas was a blow to the corruption eradication agency. "Public trust in efforts to eradicate corruption can be further eroded if this is not immediately handled seriously," he said.
Separately, a criminal law lecturer at Trisakti University, Jakarta, Abdul Fickar Hadjar, said these two incidents showed that the journey of fighting against corruption had always faced resistance, both from outsiders and insiders at the KPK. However, it will never dampen the struggle to eradicate corruption.