Legislators urge AGO to cancel deponeering against KPK deputies

Legislators urged the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) not to stop the prosecution process against two Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputies.

Prosecutors plan to stop the prosecution process using a legal mechanism known as deponeering. KPK deputies Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah have been accused of blackmail and abuse of power.

Benny K. Harman of the House of Representatives Commission III on legal affairs said that only three out of the nine House factions supported the deponeering.

The three factions recognize deponeering as a prerogative right of the AGO, he said.

“However, the three factions want the AGO to clarify the reason for their decision to issue a deponeering based on public interest,” he said, adding that these factions were the Democratic Party, the National Awakening Party and the National Mandate Party.

The AGO earlier announced they would deponeer the KPK deputies. However, newly appointed Attorney General Basrief Arief has yet to formally issue a decision.

Benny added that legislators wanted prosecutors to clarify the basis of their decision to ensure that the deponeering did not become “a kind of cover-up of the flaws and despotism of the investigators from the AGO and the police”.

Prosecutors had failed to elaborate on the reasons why bringing the deputies to court would be against public interest, he said.

“The draft they gave to us does not explain the reasons clearly,” he said regarding the draft the AGO gave legislators during Basrief's primary hearing at the House. (gzl)