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bribery case implicating the NasDem Party'€™s secretary-general, Patrice Rio Capella, has turned political with the House of Representatives stepping in with its plan to summons Attorney General M. Prasetyo, a former member of the party.

Some House lawmakers said that Prasetyo must provide details on allegations that Rio had used his NasDem connection to safeguard a graft case at the Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO).

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has slapped Rio with a bribery charge for allegedly accepting Rp 200 million (US$14,841) from North Sumatra governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho, who has also been charged in the case, to safeguard social aid fund and local budget disbursement cases implicating Gatot at the AGO.

Bambang Soesatyo of House Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, a commission in which Rio is also a member, said on Sunday that the commission would summons Prasetyo soon.

'€œCommission III will ask for an explanation and seek clarification from the attorney general,'€ Bambang told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Speculation was rife that Prasetyo, whom President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo appointed attorney general in 2014 given his affiliation with pro-government NasDem, would be among those likely to be the shown door in the upcoming Cabinet shake up.

During a separate case hearing in early October, Gatot'€™s wife, Evi Susanti, who has also been charged in the bribery case for allegedly helping her husband deliver the bribe money to Rio, said that Gatot'€™s lawyer, OC Kaligis, who is also a senior NasDem politician, promised to win a plea at the Medan State Administrative Court (PTUN) to annul the authority of the North Sumatra Prosecutor'€™s Office to investigate the two cases so that AGO could step in to take over the case.

Gatot is said to have preferred the case to be handled by the AGO as he was aware that the agency was headed by a former NasDem politician.

It was Rio who allegedly served as an intermediary between the prosecutor'€™s office and AGO after the PTUN annulled the first letter of investigation into the case. Just weeks after the prosecutor'€™s office relinquished the two cases following the PTUN ruling, the AGO moved to reopen them.

Discussion on the plan to safeguard the graft cases allegedly took place during a meeting at NasDem headquarters in Central Jakarta attended by NasDem chairman Surya Paloh, Rio, Kaligis, Gatot and Deputy North Sumatra Governor Tengku Erry Nuradi, who is also a NasDem politician.

However, Gatot'€™s lawyer, Yanuar Wasesa, said that the meeting did not discuss the plan and only touched on political disputes between Gatot, who is a Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician, and his deputy.

Political analyst Hendri Satrio of the Jakarta-based Paramadina University said that Rio'€™s case was a slap in the face for NasDem, which had billed itself as an antigraft political party.

Hendri further said that the graft case implicating NasDem could be used by rivals of the party that had long been gunning for Prasetyo'€™s position.

'€œThe case would affect [the position of the attorney general]. He could be replaced [because of the case],'€ Hendri told the Post on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Jakarta-based pollster Charta Politica political observer Yunarto said that it was too early to speculate that Rio'€™s case would inspire Jokowi to make changes in his upcoming Cabinet shake up, adding that the case would also not affect the political landscape at the House.

'€œWe have seen in past graft cases that such a grim fact did not have a political impact at the House. The only way this case can have a direct impact is that the public will see contradictions between what NasDem campaigned and what actually happened,'€ Yunarto said.