Yusril: Transfer of ex-Deputy Attorney General's case to AGO can speed up legal process

Coordinating Minister for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections Yusril Ihza Mahendra has said that transferring the case involving former Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Febrie Adriansyah to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) can normatively accelerate the law enforcement process. “There is truth in what the Attorney General’s Office has conveyed. From a procedural law perspective, case resolution can indeed be faster if the investigation is conducted by the AGO,” Yusril said when confirmed in Jakarta on Monday. Yusril explained that in corruption cases, the National Police have the authority to conduct inquiries and investigations, while prosecution falls under the AGO’s authority. If the investigation is carried out by the police, case files can go back and forth until they are declared complete by the public prosecutor. According to him, the process would be more efficient if the AGO handles both the investigation and prosecution, as both functions reside within a single institution. He said the public has reason to question the AGO’s independence because the suspect is a former Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes. “The public will certainly ask whether this might become a case of ‘the fox guarding the henhouse’ because the investigators and public prosecutors handling the case were once subordinates of the suspect,” he stated. Therefore, Yusril urged that public doubts be addressed through a firm, professional, and transparent legal process. He expressed confidence that the AGO would safeguard the institution’s integrity and ensure that investigators and public prosecutors work carefully, objectively, and in accordance with legal provisions. He added that Indonesia’s legal system has provided oversight mechanisms, including through the supervisory authority of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) 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 to monitor and critique 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 said. Meanwhile, Deputy Attorney General for Supervision, who is also the Acting Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes, Rudi Margono, emphasised that the AGO would handle the case professionally while upholding the presumption of innocence. “Synergy to ensure that the handling of this case is truly professional, upholding the presumption of innocence, so that there is certainty in its resolution,” Rudi said during a press conference in Jakarta on Saturday (11/7).