Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors on Thursday rejected senior lawyer Otto Cornelis Kaligis'€™ request for the lifting of a freeze on his two bank accounts, currently frozen in connection with bribery case in which Kaligis is implicated.

'€œThe handling of the case involving suspect OC Kaligis does not stand alone. It is related with another case for which the investigation is not yet complete,'€ KPK prosecutor Yudi Kristiana said in a trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Thursday as quoted by Antara news agency.

'€œThe suspect'€™s accounts are connected, both directly and indirectly, with another [ongoing] investigation, therefore, the freezing of the suspect'€™s bank accounts is still necessary,'€ the prosecutor added.

Yudi said that '€œsuspicious transactions'€ had already been found in Kaligis'€™ account records, and that the freezing of his accounts was in line with Law No.30/2002 on the KPK'€™s authority.

'€œ[...] the law stipulates that in carrying out pre-investigations, investigations and prosecutions, the KPK has the authority to order banks or other financial institutions to freeze accounts belonging to a suspect, a defendant or other parties,'€ said Yudi.

Kaligis said he needed access to his accounts to pay the salaries of lawyers at his law office.

'€œ[...] the [frozen] accounts have just been used to pay salaries and taxes. ['€¦] Moreover, it is not a money laundering case. The account freezing aims merely to close my office. I have not paid salaries of my employees for two months,'€ said Kaligis.

The KPK named Kaligis a suspect in a bribery case involving three judges and a clerk of the State Administrative Court (PTUN) in Medan, North Sumatra.(rad/ebf)

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