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Novel freed after police, KPK strike deal
The accused: The Corruption Eradication Commissionâs (KPK) top investigator, Novel Baswedan (center), leaves the National Policeâs Criminal Investigations Directorate in Jakarta for the KPK on Saturday
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span class="inline inline-center">The accused: The Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK) top investigator, Novel Baswedan (center), leaves the National Police's Criminal Investigations Directorate in Jakarta for the KPK on Saturday. JP/Wendra Ajistyatama
The National Police officially suspended on Saturday the detention of Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) top investigator Novel Baswedan, following a deal struck between police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti and the leadership of the antigraft body.
The decision was made following a meeting on Saturday between Badrodin and acting KPK commissioners Taufiequrachman Ruki, Indriyanto Seno Adji and Johan Budi, who, along with two other commissioners, had come forward to be Novel's guarantors.
'Both sides have agreed that [Novel's] criminal case will go through the courts and the KPK has guaranteed that Novel will comply with summonses sent by the police,' Badrodin told reporters at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta.
'Let the courts decide whether or not he is guilty.'
Novel was arrested on Friday as a suspect in an assault that allegedly happened in 2004 when he was serving as the Bengkulu Police's chief of detectives.
After a 10-hour interrogation at the National Police headquarters, Novel was transferred for further questioning to the police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) headquarters, widely known as a detention center for terrorist suspects, in Depok, West Java.
President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo issued a statement from his hometown of Surakarta, ordering the National Police not to make the controversial move or detain Novel because it would reduce trust between the police force, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) and the KPK.
Instead, investigators brought Novel to Bengkulu to partake in a crime scene reconstruction that night so that his case dossier could be quickly submitted to prosecutors.
Badrodin claimed no reconstruction was possible at the crime scene because of bad weather.
However, Novel's lawyers said their client had declined to take part in the reconstruction as he had not been involved in the assault in the first place.
Meanwhile, KPK acting chairman Ruki said the police had full authority over Novel's case and the antigraft body would not intervene.
'Neither the KPK leaders nor our employees are immune to the law. If any of us faces legal problems then let the police investigators handle them. We won't intervene as long as the police don't interfere with any of the cases handled by the KPK,' he said.
The police first reopened an investigation into Novel in 2012 after the antigraft body named then National Police Traffic Corps (Korlantas) chief Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo a graft suspect.
Then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono requested the police halt the probe into Novel's case to avoid worsening the standoff between the police and the KPK.
Novel's recent arrest came soon after Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, once a candidate for the National Police chief, was sworn in as Badrodin's deputy. Budi had been named a suspect by the KPK in January for bribery.
KPK leaders have maintained that Novel did not handle the investigation into Budi's bribery case, nor into another bribery case involving an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle lawmaker, Adriansyah.
Novel flew into Jakarta on Saturday and went to the detective division at the National Police headquarters at 4:20 p.m. before he was allowed to return home.
When asked whether police investigators handling the case had intimidated Novel, Badrodin shook his head and said, 'No, the police did not intimidate him.'
Separately, one of Novel's lawyers, Muji Kartika Rahayu, said investigators in the case conducted the crime scene reenactment without the participation of Novel on Saturday morning.
Muji said Novel declined to take part as he had never admitted to committing the assault.
Members of Novel's legal team also demanded the police to speak in plain language about the status of their client.
'The police chief and the President had ordered Novel to be released, but investigators insisted that their superior had authorized his detention,' she said.
