TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi questioned the intentions of the former chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Agus Rahardjo for accusing the government of interfering in the anti-graft agency during Setya Novanto's e-KTP corruption case. He said he had demanded the former House of Representatives (DPR) speaker follow the legal process in 2017.

Eventually, Setya's legal process proceeded, and the Golkar politician was sentenced to 15 years in prison. “So what's the point of making this noise? What's the interest in it? For what purpose?” Jokowi said at the State Palace on Monday, December 4, 2023.

He also stressed that there was no meeting with Agus Rahardjo at the Ministry of State Secretary in 2017, which was reportedly aimed at intervening in the anti-corruption agency. “There is no such agenda, just check it again,” he said.

Recently, Agus Rahardjo, the KPK chairman for the 2015-2019 period, said that the government has been meddling with the KPK since the corruption case in the e-KTP procurement in 2017. He claimed that President Jokowi summoned him alone to the Palace and asked him to stop investigating the case implicating Setya Novanto.

On Friday, Dec. 1, Presidential Special Staff Coordinator Ari Dwipayana clarified in a short message to Tempo, that there was no meeting between Jokowi and Agus in 2017.

“It needs to be clarified that the DPR initiated the amendment to the Corruption Eradication Commission Law in 2019, not the government, and that occurred two years after the determination of the suspect Setya Novanto,” Ari said.

DANIEL A. FAJRI

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