TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Police confirmed that it has issued a notification letter to begin an investigation (SPDB) into alleged letter forgery and abuse of authority cases involving KPK chief Agus Rahardjo and deputy chief Saut Situmorang.

“The investigator will follow up [the letter] by questioning witnesses and gathering other evidence,” National Police spokesperson Insp. Gen. Setyo Wasisto said at his office on Wednesday, November 8.

Setyo revealed that the National Police investigators had questioned several witnesses, “consisting of a linguist, three crime experts, and a constitutional law expert.”

The police then held a case presentation and decided to escalate the status of the case to an investigation.

The notification letter was issued yesterday and signed by National Police’s director of general crimes Brig. Gen. Herry Rudolf Nahak. The letter mentioned that investigators have found an alleged criminal act under Article 263 of the Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) and/or Article 421.

The letter was sent to the Attorney General’s Office with carbon copies sent to the Criminal Investigation Corps Director and the two concerned subjects of the investigation.

The AGO confirmed that it had received the notification letter. However, junior public prosecutor Noor Rachmad said that Saut and Agus have not been named as suspects.

Earlier, KPK's Saut and Agus were reported to the police for allegedly forging a letter and abusing their authorities. The report was filed by the lawyer team of House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto.

ANDITA RAHMA