T

he Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO) has said that it would allow Yudi Kristiana, a prosecutor seconded to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), to wrap up his work on two graft cases involving two former NasDem Party executives before he would be transfered back to his home organization.

Attorney General M. Prasetyo said on Friday that Yudi would not get his promotion until the conclusion of the two trials he is currently working on; one involving the NasDem Party former secretary-general, Rio Capella and, the other, the NasDem Party senior politician and prominent lawyer, OC Kaligis.

'€œHe still has a task to complete as he is handling some cases [at the KPK],'€ said Prasetyo, a former NasDem politician, at the AGO headquarters in South Jakarta.

Prasetyo was keen to assure the public that there was no political pressure behind the decision to withdraw Yudi and maintained that it had only been a matter of time as the prosecutor was due for a promotion.

'€œThere is no other objective and, in fact, this is not even a withdrawal, this is a rotation. He will get a a higher position because he will be promoted,'€ Prasetyo said.

On Tuesday, AGO spokesman Amir Yanto claimed that Yudi would be promoted to an echelon III job at the AGO'€™s training center.

However, Amir denied that Yudi'€™s promotion had been due to his move to prosecute two NasDem politicians, submitting them to their respective trials at the Jakarta Corruption Court.

On Monday, Rio'€™s trial had revealed a scheme to bribe Prasetyo to halt a graft case implicating suspended North Sumatra governor Gatot Pujo Nugoho currently handled by the AGO.

During Monday'€™s hearing, a witness calimed that Gatot'€™s wife, Evi Susanti, had set aside US$20,000 for Prasetyo.

Rio stands accused of receiving a Rp 200 million bribe from Gatot for his service as an intermediary between the governor and Prasetyo.

However, Prasetyo has maintained his innocence and the KPK have yet to summon Prasetyo to testify in the case.

Yudi, who is one of the KPK'€™s best prosecutors, was seconded to the antigraft body and has handled several high profile graft cases, including the Bank Century and the Bank Central Asia (BCA) scandals.

As a KPK prosecutor, Yudi managed to build a strong case against former Bank Indonesia (BI) deputy governor Budi Mulya, who was sentenced to 10 years for offenses connected to the Bank Century scandal in 2014.

Yudi had renewed his contract with the antigraft body for another four year term in September, due to expire in 2019.

On Thursday, KPK acting chairman Taufiequrrachman Ruki said that the KPK had sent an informal request to the AGO to retain Yudi at the anti-graft body until he finished handling several high-profile graft cases.

Ruki said that although the KPK had assigned a subsitute prosecutor to replace Yudi, the antigraft body would suffer from the loss of one of its top prosecutors.

'€œHe is a prosecutor, has a Ph.D in law and is also a lecturer. We really need his contribution,'€ he said following a meeting with the House of Representatives'€™s Commission III overseeing legal affairs.