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Prasetyo in the spotlight in N. Sumatra social aid scam
Anticorruption activists have called on the House of Representatives to summon Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo following the detainment of NasDem Party secretary-general Patrice Rio Capella as part of a current graft case
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nticorruption activists have called on the House of Representatives to summon Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo following the detainment of NasDem Party secretary-general Patrice Rio Capella as part of a current graft case.
Following the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) naming Rio a suspect in a bribery case related to an alleged social aid scam in the North Sumatra administration, several House lawmakers said they would soon summon Prasetyo, a former member of the party, to provide details about allegations that Rio had used his NasDem connections to safeguard a graft case at the Attorney General's Office (AGO).
The KPK has accused Rio of accepting Rp 200 million (US$14,700) from North Sumatra governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho, who has also been charged in the case, to safeguard a corruption case involving the province's social aid funds, which is currently being investigated by the AGO.
Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Donal Fariz said on Saturday that the House was not too enthusiastic to follow up Prasetyo's possible involvement in the case in contrast to several other cases it has set its sights on.
'First and foremost, we ask that the House's Commission III [overseeing legal affairs] clarify the issue with the Attorney General to see whether he was involved or not. It is important to clarify the issue because such accusations could hurt the institution,' he said.
'It's not good for all those hard-working prosecutors to face such controversy over their leader being connected [to the case],'
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 to annul the authority of the North Sumatra Prosecutor's Office to investigate the two cases so that the AGO could step in to take over the case.
Rio allegedly served as an intermediary between the local prosecutor's office and the AGO following the Medan State Administrative Court's annulment of the first letter of investigation into the case.
The prosecutor's office dropped the two cases just weeks after the court ruling. Several weeks later the AGO reopened the case.
Discussion about the plan to safeguard the graft cases allegedly took place at 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,
National Mandate Party (PAN) Commission III lawmaker Muslim Ayub said that the commission would definitely follow up the accusations.
'If there are real suspicions of a meeting then we will definitely summon [Prasetyo] because [if it is true], then he violated the code of ethics. We should not hide such things,' he said.
However, Prasetyo has denied that such a meeting occurred and said that he had 'never discussed cases with Rio Capella. I guarantee that no such thing took place'.
On Friday evening, Surya voluntarily came to the KPK headquarters to be questioned as a witness. Although he declined to share the details of his questioning, he confirmed that it focused on the alleged meeting.
'The material surrounded the cases of Gatot and Rio. I was questioned about the cases and I answered in detail,' he said.
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