T

he Presidential Judicial Corruption Task force said there were indications of irregularities in the police investigation of a high-profile forgery scandal implicating a Democratic Party member.

After hearing testimony on Tuesday from former Constitutional Court (MK) clerk Zainal Arifin Hoesein, a suspect in the case, task-force members vowed to ensure that justice and transparency were upheld in the investigation.

“It is clear that something has gone wrong with the investigation, which has ended up with Pak Zainal being named a suspect,” task force member Mas Achmad “Ota” Santosa said after meeting with Zainal.

Accompanied by his four lawyers, Zainal arrived at the task force office to complain about being named
a suspect by the police.

“Based on our preliminary analysis of facts, Zainal’s status as a suspect is strange because he was the one who initially reported the alleged document falsification to the police,” Ota said, adding that he would arrange a meeting with National Police leaders to discuss it.

“We hope that the investigation is conducted with accountability. Those who are eligible to be declared suspects must be declared suspects and those who are not must not be victimized,” Ota said.

Another task force member, Darmono, said the taskforce would follow up on Zainal’s complaint by seeking more information.

The task force would also request that the National Police’s detective bureau hold an open case
briefing involving members of the task force and the National Police Commission.

“We will talk with related figures such as Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD and former chief justice Jimly Asshiddiqie, and probably also other people allegedly involved in the case, including Andi Nurpati and Dewi Yasin Limpo,”
he said.

Darmono was referring to Andi, a former General Election Commission (KPU) commissioner and now a Democratic Party executive, and Dewi, a People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) politician.

The case involves the alleged forgery of an MK letter stating that the court ruled in favor of Dewi in a 2009 election dispute over a House of Representatives seat.

The allegedly forged letter ordered the KPU to grant a House seat to Dewi, when in fact the MK had never declared that Dewi had enough votes for a seat.

Former court staffer Mashuri Hasan, who has also been named a suspect by the police, testified before the House that he had used a scanned image of Zainal’s signature without Zainal’s knowledge.

The police, however, insisted that Zainal “was involved in producing the fake letter”.

Mashuri also testified that he fabricated the letter upon order and pressure from Andi, Dewi and former MK justice Arsyad Sanusi and her daughter, Neshawati.

The three, however, have remained untouched.

One of Zainal’s lawyers, Andi Asrun, said he welcomed the taskforce’s response.

“I hope this will help pressure the police into conducting their investigation transparently and with accountability,” he said.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana said the absence of key evidence — an original copy of the forgery — had hampered the investigation.

“Currently, we only have clues from witnesses,” Yoga said, denying that the police were afraid of the political backlash of certain figures being suspected of masterminding the forgery.

Regarding the proposed joint case briefing, Yoga said it could be done under authorization of the National Police’s chief detective.