KPK Responds to Yaqut in Pretrial Hearing

The pretrial case brought by former Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas continues in court. It is now the KPK’s turn to respond to Yaqut at the hearing. KPK’s Legal Bureau team said that Yaqut’s pretrial pleas largely concern the designation letter of the suspect, the notice of designation, the authority of the Respondent’s leadership in the designation letter, the calculation of state losses, and the criminal procedure law applied in handling the matter — issues that are not within the scope of a pretrial or outside the formal aspects within the jurisdiction of the pretrial judge. The scope of a pretrial judge is defined by Article 1(10) read together with Article 77 of the KUHAP 1981, the Constitutional Court decision No. 21 of 2014 dated 28 April 2015, and PERMA No. 4 of 2016. The calculation of state losses is also not within the scope of pretrial. “That the designation letter and the notice of designation are administrative documents in investigations or judicial administration, not coercive measures, and thus lie outside pretrial,” the KPK Legal Bureau team said. “Likewise with the authority of the Respondent, the calculation of state losses, and the criminal procedure applied in handling the case are not within the scope of pretrial,” they added. The KPK said a pretrial judge does not have the authority to assess the substance or core issues of a corruption offence, especially given that a pretrial hearing is conducted by a single judge with a seven-day time limit after proceedings commence. The KPK contends Yaqut’s request should be rejected. “Thus the applicant’s arguments, which mix the substance of the case with the remit of the Anti-Corruption Court’s authority, render the pleas unclear or obscur libel,” it said. State Loss in Hajj Case Rp 622 Billion The KPK said the Audit Board of Indonesia (BPK) has completed the calculation of state losses in the Hajj quota case. The state loss in the matter amounted to Rp 622,090,207,166, thereby meeting the criteria of Article 11(1)(d) of Law No. 30/2002 on the KPK, which concerns losses of at least Rp 1 billion. The process of naming Yaqut as a suspect had satisfied the minimum two admissible pieces of evidence. The KPK said it had taken statements from more than 40 people. “Thus, the designation of the applicant as a suspect has gone through a sequence of data collection, information, statements, and leads, thereby meeting the sufficiency of evidence via two pieces of evidence,” the KPK said. The KPK stated the pretrial pleas are ‘error in objecto’. They said Yaqut’s petition has mixed substantive matter with the scope of pretrial. “Therefore, the applicant’s pleas do not fall within the scope of pretrial or are error in objecto, and the application should be dismissed or at least declared inadmissible,” it said. KPK asks the Judge to Reject the Pretrial The KPK urged the single judge of the Jakarta Selatan District Court to dismiss Yaqut’s pretrial petition. The KPK asked the judge to declare Yaqut’s pretrial requests unclear and blurry. “In preliminary objections: (1) accept and grant the Respondent’s exception in full; (2) declare the plea as ‘error in objecto’; (3) declare the plea unclear, blurry, obscur libel,” the KPK’s Legal Bureau team said. The KPK asked the judge to accept all responses to Yaqut’s praperadilan and to declare the designation of Yaqut as suspect in this matter valid and legally grounded. It also asked the judge to declare the Respondent authorised to conduct the investigation and that the investigation was lawful. The search of Yaqut in this case followed the court’s permission; Yaqut was also questioned prior to being named as a suspect, and he was informed of the designation in accordance with laws and the Constitutional Court ruling,” the team added. “Three, declare the designation of the suspect as valid and grounded in law; four, declare the Respondent authorised to conduct the investigation; five, declare the Respondent’s investigations in the matter lawful,” the KPK’s Legal Bureau team concluded.