Febrie Denies Pre-Trial Motion Aims to Obscure Legal Process
Former Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes, Febrie Adriansyah, has denied that the filing of a pretrial motion at the South Jakarta District Court is intended to obscure the ongoing legal process at the Attorney General’s Office.
Febrie’s lawyer, Febri Diansyah, emphasised that this is a right afforded to every suspect, as regulated and guaranteed by law. He therefore asked the public not to view it as an attempt to evade the legal process.
“So it is not accurate to understand the pretrial motion as a way to obscure the legal process. A pretrial motion is a right granted by law and applies to every person without distinguishing background or position,” he told reporters on Tuesday (18/8).
Febri said the pretrial hearing was being pursued by his team to test whether the actions of law enforcement officials in handling the case were lawful or not.
He argued that the suspect designation against Febrie appeared forced. Therefore, he said, it must be tested through a pretrial motion to ensure the legal process is proceeding properly.
“What we are testing in this pretrial motion is the procedure. Whether the suspect designation, the search, and other coercive measures were carried out in accordance with the applicable provisions or not,” he said.
Furthermore, Febri said a number of issues, from the suspect designation to the examination of the prospective suspect, would be presented in the pretrial hearing.
The legal team will also test the construction of the predicate offence in the money laundering case, which was combined in a single investigation order. According to him, this construction needs to be examined with reference to Article 74 of the Money Laundering Law and its elucidation, as well as the Constitutional Court ruling.
“In a money laundering case, the issue is not whether investigators must wait until the predicate offence is decided in court. What needs to be examined is whether the predicate offence is already clear as the basis for the money laundering investigation,” he concluded.
The Attorney General’s Office has named former Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes, Febrie Adriansyah, as a suspect in a money laundering case related to the discovery of 74 kilograms of gold and Rp543 billion in cash at a house in Sentul.
Most recently, the Attorney General’s Office also named private party Nurman Herin and lawyer Don Ritto as suspects for their alleged involvement in the money laundering case together with Febrie.
Chairman of Team 9 and Junior Attorney General for Supervisory Crimes, Rudi Margono, said the alleged money laundering was carried out by Febrie as a prosecutor or structural official during his service at the Attorney General’s Office.