Yusril Supports Swift Resolution of Former Junior Attorney General Febrie Adriansyah's Case

Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections Yusril Ihza Mahendra has said that the transfer of the case ensnaring former Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes Febrie Adriansyah to the Attorney General’s Office can normatively accelerate the law enforcement process. “There is truth in what the Attorney General’s Office conveyed. From a procedural law perspective, the resolution of a case can indeed be faster if the investigation is conducted by the Attorney General’s Office,” Yusril stated in Jakarta on Monday. Yusril explained that in corruption cases, the National Police have the authority to conduct inquiries and investigations, while prosecution is the domain of the Attorney General’s Office. If the investigation is handled by the Police, the case file can be shuttled back and forth until it is declared complete by the public prosecutor. According to him, the process is more efficient if the Attorney General’s Office handles both the investigation and prosecution, as both functions reside within a single institution. However, Yusril assessed that the main challenge in this case is not merely the speed of handling, but maintaining the independence and objectivity of the legal process. He said the public has reason to question the Attorney General’s Office’s independence because the suspect is a former Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes. “The public will certainly ask whether this is a case of ‘the fox guarding the henhouse’ because the investigators and public prosecutors handling the case were once subordinates of the suspect,” he said. Therefore, Yusril urged that public doubts be answered through a firm, professional, and transparent legal process. He expressed confidence that the Attorney General’s Office would safeguard the institution’s integrity and ensure that investigators and prosecutors work carefully, objectively, and in accordance with legal provisions. According to Yusril, the handling of this case is a crucial test for the Attorney General’s Office in maintaining its dignity, honour, and authority as a law enforcement institution. He added that the Indonesian legal system already provides oversight mechanisms, including the supervisory authority of the Corruption Eradication Commission and public scrutiny of the legal process. The government, he said, supports the involvement of the media, the House of Representatives, the public, anti-corruption activists, and academics in monitoring and criticising the investigation and prosecution process so that the law is enforced objectively. “As a result, the law is truly enforced objectively, without being influenced by extra-legal considerations,” Yusril concluded. Previously, former Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes Febrie Adriansyah was named a suspect in an alleged corruption case concerning coal governance that triggered power outages in Sumatra. Meanwhile, Junior Attorney General for Supervision and Acting Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes Rudi Margono stressed that the Attorney General’s Office would handle the case professionally while upholding the principle of presumption of innocence.