TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Acting Deputy Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Johan Budi, hoped that the anti-graft body`s senior investigator, Novel Baswedan, would not be detained once he completed his dossier.
"We hope there will be no detention in connection with a case of a bird nest thiefs death in 2004, connected to Novel Baswedan," he said on Tuesday when questioned about the fate of the KPK investigator after the Bengkulu High Prosecutors Office notified the completion of Baswedans dossier.
The National Police headquarters investigators had even summoned Baswedan on Monday but he could not respond to the summons because he was in the holy city of Mecca where he had gone to perform the minor hajj.
"We have sent a letter, signed by five KPK commissioners, to the police criminal division chief last week, informing him that Novel Baswedan cannot yet meet the summons because he is still performing his minor hajj," Johan Budi said.
"Novel Baswedan continues to work for the KPK while he deals with his problem," he said.
Novel Baswedan was accused of being responsible for the killing of a bird nest thief in Bengkulu in 2004 when he headed the Bengkulu city polices detective unit. In February 2004, a number of policemen arrested six suspects in a case of the theft of a birds nest. One of the suspects was shot dead at Panjang Ujung beach of Bengkulu city.
As a result, a resident named Yogi Hariyanto filed a lawsuit against Novel Baswedan with the police on February 18, 2004. On October 5, 2012, the Bengkulu provincial polices investigators, along with a number of police personnel from Bengkulu and Jakarta metropolitan police, came to the KPK building to arrest Novel Baswedan.
At that time, Baswedan was handling the polices driving simulator procurement case for the 2011 budget. The KPK commissioners denied the allegation that Novel Baswedan was involved in the killing.
Instead, according to the graft body, Novel Baswedan took responsibility for his mens actions that resulted in the death of the bird nest thief and the KPKs Honorary Ethic Council had even grilled and reprimanded him.
ANTARA
