State Palace Responds to Proposal for KPK to Take Over Former Jampidsus Case from AGO
Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi said the government respects the legal process when responding to the proposal for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to take over the handling of the case against former Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes (Jampidsus) Febrie Adriansyah. Prasetyo made the remarks when met after a working meeting at the parliamentary complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Wednesday (15/7).
“What matters, in my view, is that we all, once again, as I have repeatedly said, respect the entire legal process,” he said.
He also repeated President Prabowo Subianto’s message reminding all state officials to avoid corrupt practices. “Time and again, the President, as head of state and head of government, has reminded all of us, especially government officials, to improve ourselves and eliminate such practices. That is the spirit,” he said.
Earlier, KPK Chairman Setyo Budiyanto said it was still too early for the commission to take over the handling of the suspected corruption and money laundering case implicating former Jampidsus Febrie Adriansyah.
“I think it’s too early because the case is still being processed at the Attorney General’s Office,” Setyo said when met at the DPR building in Jakarta on Tuesday (14/7).
He explained that the handling of the case at the Attorney General’s Office was still at an early stage, including the examination of evidence and documents. Therefore, the KPK would let the legal process run its course first.
“The process is still in its early stages. There is still a lot of coordination to be done, including examining the evidence and documents. So, let that process proceed first,” he said.
The proposal for the KPK to take over the case was previously raised by Mahfud MD in a video uploaded to his personal YouTube channel on Sunday (12/7).
The professor of law at the Faculty of Law of the Indonesian Islamic University questioned the transfer of the case’s handling from the National Police (Polri) to the Attorney General’s Office. According to him, the mechanism for handling the case needs to be clarified so that the KPK can take over the case.
Responding to the proposal, Chairman of Commission III of the House of Representatives (DPR RI) Habiburokhman said the KPK has the authority to take over the handling of the case. However, the anti-graft body has already been asked to supervise the handling process. “By all means, because the KPK does have the authority. However, we have conveyed that this case is being directly supervised by the KPK,” he said at a press conference on Monday (13/7). (Ant/P-3)
The Attorney General’s Office has appointed nine investigators, including former KPK staff, to handle the suspected corruption and money laundering case involving former Jampidsus Febrie Adriansyah.