JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – A group of lawyers from the Indonesian Defenders of Democracy Team (TPDI) have urged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Attorney General Office (AGO) to announce the legal status of Setya Novanto, the newly Speaker of the House Representatives (DPR) and key leader of Golkar Party, in various graft cases in which he implicated.
TPDI, in its press release obtained by Kompas.com on Monday (Oct. 6), mentioned a number of cases in which the Golkar’s Treasurer implicated.
The said cases are related to the 2012 Riau National Games (PON), East Java governorship post-election dispute implicating Akil Mochtar, the Rp5.6 trillion procurement project of electronic identity card (e-KTP) under the Home Affairs Ministry, and the Bank Bali Cessie case which caused Rp546 billion of the State loses.
TPDI has sent a letter to KPK asking the Anti-graft Commission to supervise the AGO in handling the investigation into the Bank Bali Cessie case.
As reported earlier, Setya Novanto has been elected as the newly Speaker of the DPR on last Friday (Oct. 3). Novanto’s appointment has triggered public criticism, including from the KPK Chief Abraham Samad.
Abraham Samad, however, 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.
As we all know, the 59-year-old politician has been examined by KPK related to further investigation into the PON graft case. KPK even had raided Novanto’s office at DPR last year. Back in early 2000, AGO released Novanto from allegation in the Bank Bali Cessie case though he was named as suspect in the case. (haryantos@yosefardi.biz)