KPKPN gets touch on legislators

JAKARTA: Despite legislators' resistance, the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN) asserted on Thursday that the commission was authorized to investigate legislators without a permit from the President.

The same ruling also applies for public servants, said KPKPN chairman Jusuf Syakir.

"The wealth probe is not a legal measure, so approval from the President or public servants' superior is not necessary," Jusuf told a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission II on legal and domestic affairs.

According to Jusuf, KPKPN's authority is confined to producing reports about the wealth of the public servants and legislators, but legal prosecution remains in the hands of the police.

House commission member Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa from the Golkar Party maintained that KPKPN needed presidential approval before probing legislators' wealth in accordance with the law on the composition of the People's Consultative Assembly and regional legislatures. -- JP