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KPK chief admits PDI-P meetings as police row rumbles on
Empty seats: South Jakarta Court judge Sarpin Rizaldi (left) chairs a pretrial hearing regarding Comr
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em>Empty seats: South Jakarta Court judge Sarpin Rizaldi (left) chairs a pretrial hearing regarding Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan's lawsuit against the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), in Jakarta on Monday. Due to the absence of representatives from the KPK (see empty chairs on right), the court adjourned the hearing to next Monday.(JP/DON)
The conflict between the National Police and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) continues to drag on amid a concerted police campaign to corner the four KPK commissioners by means of criminal charges and the latest admission by the KPK's chairman that he might have violated the commission's code of ethics.
There were few signs that President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo would make up his mind any time soon on a final decision on the future of Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, whose installment as the National Police chief was postponed by the President after Budi was named a suspect by the antigraft body.
Jokowi insisted he would wait for the results of Budi's pretrial challenge against the KPK's naming him a suspect. The South Jakarta Court adjourned the first hearing for one week on Monday as the KPK sought more time to prepare its case.
In the meantime, the five leaders of the House of Representatives said on Monday that they would respect any decision made by the President on Budi.
The statement was made by House Speaker Setya Novanto from the Golkar Party after he, along with his four deputies ' Fadli Zon of Gerindra, Fahri Hamzah of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Taufik Kurniawan of the National Mandate Party (PAN) and Agus Hermanto of the Democratic Party ' held a meeting with Jokowi at the Presidential Palace.
'We conveyed [to Jokowi during the meeting] that the House has fulfilled [its role in line with existing] mechanisms and procedures ['¦] This is the prerogative of the President and of course we will leave it to the President and will respect [his decision] whether [it is made] before or after the pre-trial [is completed],' Setya said.
Fadli added that should Jokowi decide against Budi's inauguration, it would not violate the existing law.
'We have seen the regulation and it does not violate [the law],' he said.
Cabinet Secretary Andi Widjajanto, who accompanied Jokowi in the meeting, said the House 'understands that although the political process has been completed, there is still an ongoing legal process'.
In the meantime, despite increasing criticism from legal experts who insisted that a court has no legal mandate to examine a law enforcement agency's decision to name someone a suspect, the South Jakarta Court went ahead with processing Budi's request for a pretrial hearing. The trial was adjourned until next Monday.
The KPK's prevention unit chief Johan Budi said his office needed more time to prepare its defense because the police team changed its initial position and added a new accusation.
'Such a situation forced us to ask for more time to prepare our defense statements. We will be ready to face the next session to present our defense for sure,' said Johan.
In the meantime, KPK chairman Abraham Samad acknowledged that he had met with members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) before the presidential election last year, which he had earlier denied. However, he insisted the meeting was simply one of his many contacts with political party leaders.
'I also never offered any help [to the PDI-P to intervene in] a specific graft case that was being handled by the KPK [in exchange for being considered by the party as a vice-presidential candidate in last year's election],' Abraham said, countering senior PDI-P politician Hasto Kristiyanto's allegation that Abraham had helped to get a lenient sentence for PDI-P politician Emir Moeis in a bribery case.
'With regard to all criminal allegations against all KPK chairmen, we'll let the internal committee investigate them. All the criminal allegations against KPK chairmen are designed to weaken the KPK and it is hard not to find a connection to our decision to name BG a suspect,' Abraham said, referring to Budi Gunawan by his initials.
' Indra Budiari also
contributed to this report
