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North Sumatra governor and wife suspects in bribery
Suspect couple: North Sumatra Governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho (right) and his second wife Evi Susanti meet reporters at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in Jakarta, on Monday, after they were named as suspects in a bribery case allegedly involving Medan State Administrative Court judges and lawyers
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span class="inline inline-center">Suspect couple: North Sumatra Governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho (right) and his second wife Evi Susanti meet reporters at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in Jakarta, on Monday, after they were named as suspects in a bribery case allegedly involving Medan State Administrative Court judges and lawyers. JP/DON
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Tuesday stepped up its investigation into a bribery case involving two Medan State Administrative Court (PTUN Medan) judges by declaring North Sumatra Governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho, a Prosperous Justice Party politician, and his second wife Evi Susanti as suspects.
The KPK made the move after questioning them for nearly 15 hours on Monday for their alleged roles as the financial backers of the bribery scheme, which was allegedly devised by prominent lawyer OC Kaligis, who had earlier been named a suspect in the case.
'Based on the collective decision made by KPK commissioners today, we decided to launch an investigation into North Sumatra Governor GPN and ES for their alleged roles in the case,' acting KPK commissioner Indriyanto Seno Adji told reporters on Tuesday, referring to Gatot and Evi by their initials.
The KPK charged the couple under Article 5 of Law No. 31/1999 on corruption for bribing state officials, an offense punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison, under Article 6 for bribing a judge, which is punishable by 15 years imprisonment, and under Article 13 for bribing state officials in exchange for a favorable decision, which carries a maximum sentence of three years.
Indriyanto said that witnesses' testimonies and evidence obtained by KPK investigators during their raids on Kaligis' office in Jakarta and PTUN Medan office had corroborated allegations that Gatot and Evi, who is a close friend of Kaligis, played roles in the bribery scheme.
The KPK is also in possession of a wiretapped conversation that allegedly proves its accusations against the couple.
Gatot hired Kaligis for a petition registered at PTUN Medan to challenge the decision of the North Sumatra Prosecutor's Office to issue a letter authorizing an investigation into Gatot's office for allegedly misusing social aid funds.
The petition was approved by the court, allegedly thanks to US$18,000 paid by Kaligis through his aide Yagari 'Gerry' Bhastara Guntur.
Gerry was arrested by the KPK while he was handing the money over to three PTUN judges on July 9.
The KPK moved to arrest Kaligis after Gerry and the judges told KPK investigators that Kaligis had earlier paid separate bribes to the judges on two separate occasions before the court issued a final ruling.
Other witnesses later confirmed that the money that Kaligis supposedly used to bribe the judges came from Gatot, whose wife Evi helped him give the money to Gerry. Gerry's lawyer Haeruddin Masarro said that Evi 'played active roles' in the scheme.
Gatot and Evi are respectively the seventh and the eight individuals named suspects in the case after Kaligis, PTUN Medan head Tripeni Irianto Putra and judges Amir Fauzi and Dermawan Ginting, as well as Gerry and a court clerk identified as Syamsir Yusfan, all of whom were arrested at PTUN Medan during the sting operation.
Gatot said that his wife had encouraged Kaligis through Gerry not to continue filing a petition to Medan PTUN.
'The truth is my wife reminded Kaligis not to go ahead [to file the report with the court],' he said.
