T

he Law and Human Rights Ministry, which controls prisons across the country, has been slammed again for its perceived leniency toward graft convicts, after the ministry insisted on proceeding with the parole request of graft convict Anggodo Widjoyo, despite strong opposition from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Businessman Anggodo, whose prison sentence was increased by the Supreme Court from five years to 10 years, was imprisoned in January 2010 for attempting to frame former KPK deputy chairmen Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah in a bribery scheme back in 2009.

'€œAnggodo meets all the administrative requirements for parole because he has served two-thirds of his prison term. We are currently processing his request and it will take around a month to examine his documents,'€ the ministry'€™s director general of penitentiaries, Handoyo Sudrajat, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the KPK said on Thursday that the public, who expected harsh punishments for graft convicts, was opposed to parole for Anggodo, and urged the ministry to ignore the parole request. KPK spokesman Johan Budi said that only justice collaborators should be released on parole, not the main perpetrators like Anggodo.

Anggodo was not supposed to reach two-thirds of his prison term until 2017, but an unusual 29 months of remission makes him eligible to apply for parole this month.

A graft convict may only receive a maximum of one month remission in his first year behind bars; two months in the second year; three months in the third year and four months in the fourth year, but Anggodo has accumulated a total of 29 months within four years.

Instead of explaining the details of Anggodo'€™s remission, Handoyo said that he was also surprised to find about it, adding that the ministry would consider the '€œsurprising'€ amount of remission in making its final decision on Anggodo'€™s parole request. '€œI am new here anyway, just around one year in this post,'€ Handoyo went on.

Meanwhile, KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto suspected an untoward deal might be behind the extra remission.

'€œIf it is true, then the whole process from the KPK to the court has been hijacked by the [remission] policy. The policy should be evaluated in order to reveal the parties behind it,'€ Bambang said on Thursday.

Handoyo was quick to counter Bambang'€™s arguments, saying that in Anggodo'€™s case, the ministry needed no recommendations from the antigraft body as Anggodo was jailed prior to the enactment of Government Regulation No.99/2012, which tightened the extending of remission, parole and other legal rights for inmates who have committed '€œspecial'€ crimes including corruption.

'€œWe will try to explain to the KPK that no recommendation is needed for this specific case,'€ Handoyo said.