TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - THE law seems to find it very hard to get to grips with Setya Novanto. The notorious Golkar Party Chairman seems to be able to bend and stretch any rules to suit him. Now, for the second time, he showed his invulnerability to his charges over corruption in the nationwide citizen¡¯s electronic identity card (e-KTP) project.
It all began when the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) declared several members of the House of Representatives (DPR), including Setya, had been involved in plundering the e-KTP project, causing the State losses of Rp2.3 trillion. The politicians struck back, through the ‘rap of the gavel tactic’ employed by Deputy DPR Speaker Fahri Hamzah who is close to Setya, then formed a Special Ad Hoc Committee to investigate the KPK.
When that move was unable to deter KPK from naming him a suspect in the case, Setya countered with a pre-trial suit. Unfortunately, South Jakarta District Court Judge Cepi Iskandar upheld his suit, overturning Setya’s status as a suspect. The absurdity continued when Setya’s lawyers then reported KPK Chairman Agus Rahardjo and his deputy Saut Situmorang, together with 24 of the institution’s investigators, to the police.
The lawyers took issue with KPK’s written request to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights Directorate-General of Immigration, signed by Agus and Saut, which was sent before Setya’s status as a suspect was overturned. The letter asked for Setya to be subjected to an overseas travel ban. His lawyers claimed the letters were evidence that the KPK leaders have exceeded their powers.
Everybody knows that those accusations are ridiculous, except, regrettably, the National Police. They rushed to upgrade the status of Setya’s report into a full-blown investigation. This gives a strong impression that the police are acting as Setya’s ‘protector’ because all this was done only a few days after the KPK once again named Setya a corruption suspect in the e-KTP case.
There are two issues with the steps taken by police. First, Article 25 of the Corruption Eradication Law requires enforcers of the law to prioritize investigation, prosecution, and trial of corruption cases over others. Second, the police’s decision in this case will threaten many of their own investigators. In many cases, it is not uncommon to see charges against a suspect were dropped after pre-trial hearings.
Issuance of an investigation warrant and a request for a travel ban for anyone suspected of a crime lie well within the investigators’ powers. These legal steps are themselves legitimate even though they may be nullified by a subsequent pre-trial verdict. If any officer of the law can be subject to charges after a case they handle is lost at a pre-trial, many of the KPK, Attorney General’s Office, and police’s officers could then also be charged, not only Agus and Saut.
Therefore, National Police Chief Tito Karnavian ought to instruct his men to drop this case. President Joko Widodo ought to chastise Tito over this recklessness. Especially so as this move could potentially damage relations between the police and KPK.
President Jokowi must resolutely and clearly show his support for corruption eradication efforts. The recent conflict between these two institutions over the handling of a case by one of them ought to never happen again. In this, the President’s resoluteness is crucial.
In the past, records have shown how strongly the police have reacted whenever the KPK investigated their interests. Similar tensions between the two institutions have occurred several times, most recently in 2015 when the KPK named Budi Gunawan, then a top rank police officer, as a suspect in the acceptance of a gratification case.
In all past cases, the police reacted by criminalizing KPK leaders to weaken it. But the KPK leadership and its investigators cannot ease off. On the contrary, it shows the need for KPK to speed up the legal process in this e-KTP case.
The KPK’s decision to once again name Setya Novanto a suspect is the right one. The DPR Speaker and his supporters will naturally not stand idly by, though. He may lodge another pre-trial suit, much like the one that set him free after the KPK’s first attempt to declare him a suspect.
That is why this time, the anti-corruption commission must be better prepared and move quickly. If necessary, the KPK must detain Setya so he does not have any opportunity to get rid of evidence. This is urgent, especially after investigators gathered new evidence, including on the flow of e-KTP bribery funds as revealed by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The KPK should also improve the security of its own documents. The letter advising recommencement of Setya’s investigation was leaked beforehand to the public. That leak must be thoroughly investigated: hopefully, it can be proved it was not done deliberately by someone on the inside to warn Setya in advance.
Finally, the KPK needs to do extra work in the case. For this second attempt, tightening up all legal procedures is important so the KPK can counter all forms of intervention, and so nullify all of Setya Novanto’s stratagems.
Read the full article in this week's edition of Tempo English Magazine
