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Police may drop Bambang'€™s case

Former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto has dropped his plan to file a pretrial motion at the South Jakarta District Court to allow the National Police to look closer at the Association of Indonesian Advocates’ (Peradi) recommendation on his case

Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, May 22, 2015

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Police may drop Bambang'€™s case

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ormer Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto has dropped his plan to file a pretrial motion at the South Jakarta District Court to allow the National Police to look closer at the Association of Indonesian Advocates'€™ (Peradi) recommendation on his case.

The police moved to charge Bambang, a former lawyer, in January, accusing him of encouraging witnesses to commit perjury during a hearing on a local election dispute at the Constitutional Court.

Bambang was named a suspect just one week after the KPK named deputy National Police Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan a graft suspect.

Bambang'€™s lawyer, Dadang Trisasongko, said the police should use Peradi'€™s recommendation, which suggested that Bambang had not committed any perjury offenses, as a legal basis to stop its investigation into Bambang and drop the criminal charges against him.

Dadang however said that Bambang could press ahead with his pretrial plan if police continue pursuing the case.

'€œIf the National Police do not drop the case by May 25 then we will reregister the petition with the South Jakarta District Court,'€ Dadang said on Thursday.

Bambang believed that the case against him was politically motivated and he believed that the court would rule in favor of him in a pretrial hearing.

Bambang decided to file the pretrial motion following a recent Constitutional Court ruling that allows suspects in criminal cases to file pretrial motions to challenge the legality of a probe launched against them.

Separately, National Police head of economic and special crimes unit, Comr. Sr. Daniel Bolly Tifaona said police investigators would continue investigating the case.

'€œNo, we will not halt the investigation. We have finished our investigation and we have sent his dossiers to the Attorney General'€™s Office [AGO] and in the near future the AGO will finish its indictment [for his upcoming trial]. So, it is impossible for us to stop now,'€ Daniel said.

Last week, Peradi concluded its month-long investigation on Bambang'€™s case and found that none of the witnesses confirmed that they had been directed by Bambang to give false testimonies during a Constitutional Court hearing on the West Kotawaringin election dispute in 2010.

'€œWe have also sent the investigation results to President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, the National Police chief and the National Police detective division chief head,'€ said Peradi'€™s chairman Timbang Pangaribuan.

Bambang was not the only KPK leader targeted by the police'€™s alleged vendetta.

The National Police also charged KPK chairman Abraham Samad, now suspended, in what many saw as a '€œpetty case'€.

Police in Makassar, South Sulawesi, have questioned him for committing forgery for allegedly including a woman on his family ID in 2007 who was not actually related to him. This alleged offense was committed four years ago but only recently have the police followed up on it.

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