Decree awaiting President’s signature

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is processing a presidential decree to reactivate two suspended Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputies, says a presidential spokesman.

“The decree is currently being processed,” presidential spokesman Julian Adrian Pasha told the press on Friday.

He said the President had received a letter to halt the prosecution process (SKPP) of the suspended KPK deputies, Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah from the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) on Thursday night.

However he refused to specify the exact time the President would issue the decree.
Previously, Denny Indrayana, a presidential staffer on legal affairs,  said the draft of the decree had
been prepared and was now in the hands of the President’s personal assistant and could therefore be signed at anytime.

Both Bibit and Chandra will be reinstated at the commission after the President signs the decree.
However, there is still a possibility that Bibit and Chandra could lose their jobs if the President
does not issue the decree before Dec. 21, marking three months of their suspension.

The 2002 KPK Law stipulates that if KPK leaders are not active for three months consecutively, they can be permanently dismissed.

Both deputies were suspended after being declared as suspects in alleged abuse of power, bribery and extortion cases involving corruption fugitive Anggoro Widjojo.

The accusations attracted strong public criticism, which focused on a lack of evidence and speculation that the National Police and the AGO had fabricated the charges to sabotage the anticorruption body.  

Such speculations was verified after the Constitutional Court played wiretapped conversations between the brother of Anggoro, Anggodo Widjojo, and some high-ranking officers at the National Police and the AGO.

The tapes caught Anggodo telling the officers to concoct a scenario and fabricate evidence to frame the two deputies in criminal cases.

After the tapes were played, the President made a public statement saying that he preferred the case to be halted either by the police or the AGO.

The AGO finally issued a letter to stop the prosecution of Bibit and Chandra on Dec. 1.

Separately, KPK advisor Abdullah Hehamahua said that if Bibit and Chandra were working again at the KPK, it would inspire the working spirits of all senior officials and other employees at the antigraft commission.

“They don’t have to be afraid of being criminalized like Pak Bibit and Pak Chandra,” he told The
Jakarta Post.

Criminal cases against the KPK deputies revealed not only a conspiracy behind them, but also disclosed the rampant judicial mafia practices within legal enforcement institutions in Indonesia.

The KPK is currently investigating the attempted bribery and obstruction of a corruption investigation by Anggoro’s brother, Anggodo, which many people expect will implicate senior legal enforcers involved in the conspiracy.

So far the KPK has summoned Ari Muladi and Edi Soemarsono who allegedly acted as case brokers and mediators in the KPK fiasco.