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Jakarta Post

KPK refuses to investigate AGO director in bribery case

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has said it will not move against special crimes division director Maruli Hutagalung from the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) in its investigation into suspended North Sumatra governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho despite court evidence confirming that Gatot had funneled money to the prosecutor to halt a case implicating the governor at the AGO

Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post)
Bogor, West Java
Mon, November 23, 2015

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KPK refuses to investigate AGO director in bribery case

T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has said it will not move against special crimes division director Maruli Hutagalung from the Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO) in its investigation into suspended North Sumatra governor Gatot Pujo Nugroho despite court evidence confirming that Gatot had funneled money to the prosecutor to halt a case implicating the governor at the AGO.

In its investigation into the case, the antigraft body has named former NasDem Party secretary-general Patrice Rio Capella a suspect for receiving bribes of up to Rp 200 million (US$14,600) from Gatot to bridge communications with Attorney General M. Prasetyo, also a former member of the pro-government party, and other AGO officials to stop a social aid fund case at the AGO.

Both Rio and Maruli were said to have accepted the money from Gatot but the KPK said that its investigation would stop at Rio and let the AGO launch an internal investigation to probe the validity of the accusation against Maruli.

KPK deputy chairman Zulkarnen defended the KPK'€™s stance on Maruli saying that the organization had decided not to investigate the allegations against Maruli because '€œthere was a missing link in the case.'€

'€œThe KPK investigation is not focused [on Maruli]. It'€™s the AGO'€™s job to follow up [the court evidence],'€ Zulkarnen said over the weekend in Bogor, West Java.

Gatot confirmed on Wednesday that his lawyer, OC Kaligis, had given Rp 500 million to Maruli to enlist his support to halt the social aid case.

The governor, who is also embroiled in three separate cases currently being handled by the KPK, said that he had given the money to Kaligis, adding that Kaligis, also a former NasDem executive, reported to him once he had passed on the money to Maruli.

Earlier, Gatot'€™s wife, Evi Susanti, testifying during Rio'€™s trial, made similar statements. Another witness also revealed that Evi had provided US$20,000 for Prasetyo in order to get his support in the scheme.

Widyo Pramono, junior attorney general for internal supervision, announced that an AGO internal investigation had found that Maruli had never received money either from Gatot, Evi or Kaligis in relation to the social aid case, adding that the AGO had also grilled Maruli in the case.

The AGO described the allegations against Maruli and Prasetyo as '€œtotal lies'€.

'€œFrom our questioning of Gatot and his wife, they never gave the money either to the attorney general or the AGO'€™s special crimes division director. So, the case is clear now. The allegations are total lies,'€ Widyo said as quoted by kompas.com on Saturday.

This is not the first time that the KPK, under the leadership of acting chairman Taufiequrachman Ruki, has let off law enforcement members from a graft investigation.

The KPK, under the leadership of chairman Abraham Samad, faced total paralysis after it named then National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan a bribery suspect in January.

Following the KPK'€™s bold move, the police declared Abraham and another KPK commissioner, Bambang Widjojanto, criminal suspects in what many deemed to be trivial cases.

In March, President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo appointed Ruki, a former police general, to replace the combative Abraham and ordered the KPK to forge '€œa better relationship with other law enforcement institutions'€ in the future.

Under Ruki'€™s leadership, the KPK appears to have avoided investigating cases involving members of law enforcement.

In April, the KPK, during a sting operation, arrested ranking police officer Brig. Agung Krisdianto for delivering bribes from a businessman to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Adriansyah in Bali.

The KPK only named Adriansyah and the businessman, identified as Andrew Hidayat, as suspects in the case and let Agung walk free.
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