Lawyer denies Don Ritto's involvement in corruption case

The legal counsel for suspect DR, or Don Ritto, Handika Hanggowongso, has denied his client’s involvement in three clusters of alleged corruption cases currently under police investigation. ‘Regarding the handling of the Asabri case, the Tan Kian cluster, the coal supply issue at PLN, and the debt matter between PT SBS and PT KNI, our client was passive. He has no connection whatsoever to these matters and never interacted with the relevant parties,’ Handika said in Jakarta on Tuesday. He explained that the cash found and seized by investigators from De’Clan Cafe, a money changer, and his client’s residence had no relevance to the alleged offences. According to Handika, the money was purely a cooperation fund between his client and a businessman to build a port area in East Kalimantan. However, he declined to disclose the businessman’s identity, citing high risk, and invited investigators to look into it themselves. Handika also highlighted administrative procedures in the investigation, stating that the search and seizure report was not prepared directly at the scene, as stipulated in the Criminal Procedure Code. ‘We received the search and seizure administration long after the search occurred, because all the evidence was taken to Polda Metro Jaya, not processed on site,’ Handika said. The Head of the Corruption Eradication Corps at the National Police Criminal Investigation Department, Inspector General Totok Suharyanto, previously stated that FA had been named a suspect in the corruption and money laundering case. ‘We have named FA a suspect in the alleged corruption and money laundering case,’ Totok said at a press conference at the Attorney General’s Office in Jakarta on Saturday (11/7). The two-star police general explained that FA was named a suspect alongside another suspect with the initials DR from the private sector, believed to be Don Ritto. The naming of both as suspects followed a case review conducted by investigators. In this case, investigators have examined 15 witnesses and two experts, and conducted searches at several locations. Totok revealed that suspect DR is alleged to have committed money laundering originating from a corruption offence. ‘For suspect DR, we have applied Article 4 or Article 5 in conjunction with Article 10 of Law Number 8 of 2010, or Article 607 paragraph 1 letters B and C of the new Criminal Code,’ Totok stated.