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Police working on Kaligis report
The National Police force has said it will continue its investigation into the alleged kidnapping of renowned lawyer Otto Cornelis Kaligis despite the rejection of his pretrial motion against the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Monday
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he National Police force has said it will continue its investigation into the alleged kidnapping of renowned lawyer Otto Cornelis Kaligis despite the rejection of his pretrial motion against the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Monday.
National Police detective division chief Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso said on Tuesday that the South Jakarta District Court's decision to reject Kaligis' pretrial petition would not affect an investigation based on a report filed by the senior lawyer earlier this month.
'Of course [the court's decision] will not interfere with the National Police's investigation. We are still evaluating and studying [Kaligis' report],' he told reporters at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta.
Kaligis was arrested at the Borobudur Hotel on July 14 and detained after the KPK found strong evidence that he had orchestrated a scheme to bribe Medan State Administrative Court (PTUN) head Tripeni Irianto Putro and judges Amir Fauzi and Dermawan Ginting.
Kaligis refused to cooperate with the KPK since the beginning of his arrest and vowed to file a pretrial petition against his suspect status, arrest and detention.
However, the South Jakarta District Court rejected on Monday Kaligis' pretrial petition on the basis that the case against Kaligis had already been brought to the Jakarta Corruption Court.
Judge Suprapto quoted Article 82 of the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP) that states that any pretrial petition is considered void if the case has been brought before a court.
One of Kaligis' lawyers, Johnson Panjaitan, accused the KPK of abusing its power by postponing the start of the pretrial session on purpose. The first session was supposed to be held on Aug. 10, but the KPK's legal bureau asked the court to delay the hearing as it needed to collect expert witnesses and evidence. Two days later, the KPK handed over Kaligis' dossier to the Jakarta Corruption Court, which in turn led to the judge's decision to reject the pretrial petition.
Budi said that while investigators were reviewing Kaligis' accusations against the KPK for the crimes of alleged kidnapping and the abuse of power, the police force was also still waiting for the Jakarta Corruption Court to fulfill its request to allow officers to question Kaligis in detention.
'We cannot rush the investigation. We have not even questioned OC Kaligis yet. We have already sent an official letter requesting time to question [Kaligis] but they have yet to answer us,' he said, adding that there was currently no reason for the police force not to investigate Kaligis' report.
Previously, another one of Kaligis' lawyers, Afrian Bondjol, told The Jakarta Post that the graft suspect had filed a police report against the KPK because his arrest allegedly did not follow the KUHAP.
'During the arrest, KPK investigators did not show identification or an arrest warrant to Pak Kaligis,'
he said.
Afrian added that Kaligis was isolated for seven days in detention and was offered limited access to his legal team, which violated the KUHAP's stipulation that suspects and witnesses be allowed to be accompanied by their lawyers during questioning.
