Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said here Monday that prosecutors have collected strong evidence to link suspended chief of the Corruption Eradication Commission Antasari Azhar to the Nasruddin murder case and are prepared to bring the case to court within 10 days.
"I expect prosecutors to be able to finish the indictments by September 10 so that we can move on to the hearing sessions immediately," Hendarman told journalists on the sidelines of a meeting at the House of Representatives on Monday.
He said the high expectations came with the fact that prosecutors had been able to collect convincing evidence and testimonies. However, he did not elaborate on what type of evidence the prosecutors had managed to collect.
"We are ready with the evidence and testimony and therefore need not wait any longer to put it before the court," he said.
As well as indicting Antasari for the murder of Nasruddin Zulkarnaen, prosecutors are preparing charges for former South Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Wiliardi Wizard, media businessman Sigid Haryo Wibisono and nightclub owner Jerry Hermawan Lo.
According to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law, Antasari will soon be permanently dismissed from his job at the KPK, as he will be declared a defendant once the trial starts.
The suspects are accused of orchestrating the murder of Nasruddin Zulkarnaen, director of PT Rajawali Putra Banjaran. Hendarman said all the suspects could face the maximum sentence of death if proved guilty.
Earlier, criticism was directed at both the police and the Attorney General's Office (AGO) because the dossiers prepared by the police were refused several times by the prosecutors for unclear reasons. This uncertainty sparked questions over the institutions' seriousness in handling the murder case.
As if intending to counter the public's doubts, the police handed the suspects' dossiers to the South Jakarta Prosecutor's Office early last week, just a few days before the suspects' jail term expired on Friday last week.
One of Antasari's lawyers, Juniver Girsang, earlier acknowledged that he had in fact expected the police and the prosecutors to pay serious attention to processing the case.
"We are of the same viewpoint as the police and the prosecutors here, because we, too, encouraged them to speed up the processing of the case, as the long jail period has been of no benefit to our client," he said.
Juniver also pointed out how the recent media coverage of his client had severely tarnished Antasari's reputation.
Antasari refused to sign his dossier, rejecting a number of what he considered to be falsities he believes it contains.
He also rejected the police's re-enactment of several events in connection with the murder.
The first event was the meeting between Antasari, Sigid and Wiliardi at Sigid's house in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.
The second was an exchange between Antasari and Nasruddin's wife, Rhani Juliani, at the Grand Mahakam Hotel.
"These events were not in line with Antasari's testimony during questioning. We will object to any testimony made based on these events in court," Antasari's lawyer, Ari Yusuf Amir, said.
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