JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – The Chief of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Abraham Samad regrets over the appointment of Golkar Party’s Treasurer Setya Novanto as the Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) for the period of 2014-2019 as the 59-year-old politician has been repeatedly examined in various graft cases, Kompas.com reported.
Abraham Samad firmly stated that being the Speaker of the House will not free Novanto from the KPK’s investigation. He said the Speaker of the House is not above the law.
Novanto has been examined by the KPK related to further investigation into the 2012 Riau National Games (PON). The KPK even has raided Novanto’s office at the DPR last year. In this case, Novanto is alleged for asking fee of US$1,050,000 from Rusli Zainal to help the former Riau Governor and Golkar key leader on requesting additional funds of the 2012 PON to the Youth & Sports Ministry. Novanto, however, has denied all allegations against him.
Other than that, Novanto’s name is also allegedly implicated in several other graft cases such as:
1) The Bank Bali Cessie case which caused Rp546 billion of the State loses
2) The case related to the import of 60,000 tons of rice from Vietnam during March-May 2003 with estimated State loses of Rp28.5 billion
3) The case related to the import of toxic waste from Singapore
4) The bribery case related to East Java governorship post-election dispute implicating Akil Mochtar
5) The graft case related to the Rp560 billion uniform procurement project of the civil defense officer (locally known as Hansip)
6) The graft case related to the Rp5.6 trillion procurement project of electronic identity card (e-KTP) under the Home Affairs Ministry.
In a related progress, a group of students called themselves as the Students Association for Anti-Corruption (Permak), in their rally in front of the
KPK’s building on Thursday (Oct. 2), has urged the KPK to intensify its investigation into Setya Novanto. (haryantos@yosefardi.biz)