Fact-finding team has no right to call for suspension of case

The government-sanctioned fact-finding team's probe into an alleged plot to frame Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputies has no right to recommend the suspension of a bribery case involving the suspended KPK leaders, ministers say.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto said Monday the eight-strong team was formed only to verify facts and the legal process of a bribery case implicating KPK deputy chiefs Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah.

Djoko said the legal process should be settled by law enforcers.

“No one can suspend the [bribery] case and other cases,” Djoko said after a ceremony to honor national heroes at the State Palace.

Justice Minister Patrialis Akbar concurred, saying the right to suspend a case was in the hands of state prosecutors and the police. “The Justice Ministry’s intervention will wreak havoc on law enforcement in the country,” Patrialis said.

The fact-finding team was formed after a tape recording revealed a plot, involving a businessman and law enforcers, to fabricate evidence to implicate Bibit and Chandra in bribery and extortion cases.