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KPK to grill more NasDem party politicians

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is set to summon more NasDem Party politicians for questioning after it found strong evidence, from an earlier interrogation of party secretary-general Patrice Rio Capella that graft suspect and North Sumatra Governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho met with several party members to negotiate an investigation into a social fund scam

Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, October 1, 2015

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KPK to grill more NasDem party politicians

T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is set to summon more NasDem Party politicians for questioning after it found strong evidence, from an earlier interrogation of party secretary-general Patrice Rio Capella that graft suspect and North Sumatra Governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho met with several party members to negotiate an investigation into a social fund scam.

Members of the alleged meeting included Gatot and his wife Evi Susanty, Rio, NasDem Party chairman Surya Paloh and North Sumatra deputy governor Tengku Erry Nuradi and prominent advocate OC Kaligis, both of whom are NasDem politicians. The meeting allegedly took place at the NasDem Party headquarters.

The participants allegedly gathered to discuss the possibility of guarding an investigation into the alleged misuse of social aid funds in the North Sumatra budget by the Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO), led by former NasDem politician Muhammad Prasetyo.

The KPK began investigating the meeting after finding strong leads that the deal made during the meeting was plagued by dirty money provided by Gatot to '€œstill unidentified recipients'€ in a move to win support from members of the meeting mediated by Gatot'€™s lawyer Kaligis, who is the party'€™s dispute tribunal committee chief.

KPK deputy chairman Adnan Pandu Praja on Wednesday said the meeting had definitely taken place, adding that to uphold the principle of fair investigation, all attendees of the meeting, including Surya, would be called for questioning

'€œThe final decision is in the hands of investigators, but one thing for sure is to avoid being judged as discriminatory. Thus, all of them should be summoned for questioning. Their clarification is important as we don'€™t want to make a mistake in our decision, and also for the fairness principle,'€ Pandu said.

Pandu further said that KPK investigators would later determine the schedule of the questioning.

It was the North Sumatra prosecutors'€™ office that launched an initial probe into the social aid fund case, which, if found to be guilty, could severely affect suspended North Sumatra governor, Gatot, also a Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician.

Allegedly, after receiving suggestion from Kaligis, Gatot filed a plea to the Medan State Administrative Court (PTUN Medan) to challenge a letter of investigation into the case, which was later approved by the court, thanks to the bribe money that the governor paid to three of the court judges.

In a sting operation in Medan, the KPK arrested three PTUN Medan judges as they were allegedly about to accept money from Kaligis'€™ law firm after a favorable verdict was handed down for Gatot. The antigraft body also later arrested Gatot, Evi and Kaligis in the case.

After the PTUN Medan annulled the investigation, the AGO stepped in to reopen the case, allegedly as a follow up on the agreement made during the meeting. Supposedly, Gatot preferred that the case was handled by the AGO given the fact that it was headed by a former NasDem party politician.

Another KPK commissioner Indriyanto Seno Adji said that the antigraft body investigators were collecting testimonies of each witness in order to find motive behind the meeting.

'€œWe are still questioning other witnesses to determine whether there is a correlation between the PTUN bribery case and another investigation into an inquiry [launched by North Sumatra Legislative Council [DPRD] against Gatot,'€ Indriyanto said.

After his trial hearing on Monday, Kaligis defended his boss Surya and Rio in the case by saying that they had nothing to do with the PTUN case. Kaligis further said that the meeting at the NasDem headquarters was aimed at settling conflicts between Gatot and Tengku in their capacity respectively as governor and deputy governor.

However, Gatot on Tuesday said that he would reveal everything about his meeting with Surya during Kaligis'€™ trial hearing next week when he is scheduled to testify as a witness.

'€œJust wait for the trial,'€ Gatot told reporters after being questioned about the case on Tuesday night at KPK headquarters.

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