Palace Urges Hotman Paris Not to Link Febrie Adriansyah to Prabowo

Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi has responded to remarks by lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea, who described his client, former Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Febrie Adriansyah, as a source of pride for President Prabowo Subianto. Pras, as he is familiarly known, emphasised that the government is leaving the case entirely to the legal process. He requested that no party link the matter to the President. ‘Do not associate this with the President. We are fully returning this to the applicable legal mechanism,’ Pras said after a meeting at Commission V of the House of Representatives on Monday (20/7). Pras also stressed that law enforcement officials do not need to seek the President’s permission to process a legal case. He stated that the government wants Febrie’s case to be handled according to the law. ‘I think there is no such thing, only that during the examination process, permission from the President is required,’ he said. Hotman had previously described the case ensnaring Febrie as a form of criminalisation. He expressed dismay at Febrie’s current condition. He argued that during his tenure as Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes, Febrie was an accomplished figure who was a source of pride for President Prabowo because he successfully recovered a fantastic amount of state assets. ‘The Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes was someone President Prabowo was proud of. He secured the return of state losses amounting to Rp130 trillion, plus the Task Force for State Revenue (PKH) of Rp300 trillion. A total of Rp430 trillion was returned to the state. Imagine, a person who is the pride of the President is suddenly criminalised without notice to the President,’ he said. However, this statement drew criticism from various parties. The Chairman of the Gerindra Party’s Central Leadership Council, Bambang Haryadi, asserted that the President, who is also the party’s General Chairman, has never interfered in legal processes. The Secretary of the Gerindra Party Faction in the House of Representatives stated that Prabowo has never been discriminatory in law enforcement, including towards party cadres. ‘Gerindra regrets Hotman Paris’s statement linking the case of the former Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes to President Prabowo. This is completely untrue and contradicts President Prabowo’s commitment to eradicating corruption,’ Bambang said when contacted on Sunday (19/7).