Ilham Arief Sirajuddin - Antara

The South Jakarta District Court postponed a case review hearing of former Makassar mayor Ilham Arief Sirajuddin for the second time on Thursday after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) disapproved of the graft suspect attending the proceedings.

Ilham, the plaintiff in the case, filed a pretrial motion with the South Jakarta court to challenge the antigraft body'€™s investigation of him in a bribery case.

The KPK named Ilham, who served as Makassar mayor from 2004 to 2014, for allegedly violating articles 2 and 3 of the 2001 Corruption Law, respectively on abuse of power and self-enrichment, in a graft case related to a local water company between 2006 and 2012.

Ilham lost his case against the KPK in the pretrial, hence is appealing his case through the case review at the same court.

The court first delayed the hearing last week for the same reason, while Thursday'€™s session was postponed until next Tuesday to allow the panel of judges to decide whether to issue a formal request for the KPK to bring the graft suspect to court.

KPK deputy chairman Indriyanto Seno Adji on Thursday criticized the court for the second postponement, saying the court should have just gone ahead with the case review hearing without the presence of the former mayor.

The South Jakarta court annulled his pretrial motion in July, allowing the antigraft body to continue investigating him in the graft case that is alleged to have caused Rp 38 billion in state losses.

'€œThe panel of judges at the court should have understood that [Ilham] is currently being detained at the KPK detention center, not to mention that it is not mandatory for the plaintiff to attend his judicial review hearing,'€ Indriyanto told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

KPK spokesperson Yuyuk Andriati explained the reason behind the KPK'€™s move not to issue the permit for Ilham to get out of the detention center to attend his appeal, saying, '€œWe base our decision on the fact that Ilham has authorized a team of lawyers to defend him in the case review hearing.'€

'€œWe have received the request [from Ilham'€™s team of lawyers], but we decided to reject it under that consideration. So, if the team of lawyers is already present at the court, then Ilham is considered to be there too,'€ Yuyuk said on Thursday.

The KPK decided to lock up Ilham on July 10, just days after the South Jakarta District court rejected his pretrial petition, to prevent the former mayor from running away and allow the antigraft body to complete his dossiers in the PDAM case in preparation for his upcoming trial. In August, Ilham moved to challenge the pretrial verdict by filing a plea to review the verdict of the South Jakarta District court.

In contrast to the opinion of Indriyanto, who is a prominent legal expert, Ilham'€™s lawyer Johnson Panjaitan said that the court had no choice but to allow another postponement because '€œaccording to the existing regulation'€ it was mandatory for his client to be present at his case review hearing given his status as the plaintiff.

Johnson accused the KPK of playing dirty tricks behind its reluctance to issue a permit for Ilham to attend the hearing, adding that the KPK could make use the prolonged delay to expedite the investigation to complete Ilham'€™s dossiers and to send his case to the Jakarta Corruption Court for trial, a move that would automatically void the ongoing process at the South Jakarta District Court.

'€œWe have asked protection from the court [from the KPK trick], but to no avail because the court keeps delaying the trial after the KPK again fails to issue a permit for my client. We are worried that our case review plea would be voided if the KPK sends Pak Ilham'€™s case to the Jakarta Corruption Court,'€ Johnson said on Thursday.

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