T

he National Police have said that they will only consider criminal prosecution against House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto after hearing a final ruling from the House'€™s ethics council.

National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti told reporters on Friday that he and President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo had agreed to wait until the decision was issued to determine whether Setya had abused his power when he allegedly attempted to broker a deal between the government and gold and copper mining firm Freeport Indonesia.

'€œIt is better for us to wait until everything is clear and the council has clarified all. Whether or not we will launch a probe, whether there is even a crime, it all depends [on the ruling], as there are a number of versions [of the same story],'€ he said at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta.

Badrodin added that the council would not be obligated to hand over Setya'€™s dossier after the final ruling, in the event the police force decided to launch a criminal investigation.

'€œWe are waiting for the council to deal with the issue first so that it is clear and so that [the police force] knows exactly what happened in the case. We previously said that it was possible that [Setya] could be charged with fraud but we have yet to discover whether or not his actions were in violation of the Criminal Code. It depends on whether or not a deal was actually struck with Freeport Indonesia,'€ he said.

Badrodin also suggested that the council stage open hearings for Setya.

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said reported Setya to the ethics council last Monday for allegedly brokering a deal with a local unit of mining giant Freeport McMoRan in exchange for helping the company extend its contract to continue operating at its gold mine in Papua.

At the time, Sudirman also submitted a recording and transcript of a taped conversation between Setya, Freeport Indonesia president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin and fuel import kingpin Muhammad Riza Chalid on June 8.

Meanwhile, following the sudden withdrawal of three Golkar Party members from the ethics council, Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie said that he had replaced Dadang S. Muchtar, Budi Supriyanto and Hardisoesilo with Ridwan Bae, Adies Kadir and Kahar Muzakir in order to protect the party'€™s interests on the council.

'€œThe objective was to strengthen [the council]. If [Setya] is in the right position then he should not take the blame. If he is not [right], he should not be excused,'€ Aburizal said.

Aburizal also denied that Kahar had been assigned to the council position because of his close relationship with Setya.

'€œAll Golkar [members] have the same quality,'€ he said.

On Thursday evening, during the celebration of Golkar'€™s 51st anniversary in Jakarta, Golkar secretary-general and Aburizal stalwart Idrus Marham denied that the party had replaced all Golkar politicians on the council on the basis of their loyalty to Setya.

'€œThere is no truth in the allegations that changes made [on the council] were based on loyalty. I assure you that the 90 faction members in the House are loyal only to Golkar and not to individuals,'€ Idrus said.

Idrus also maintained that there was no such intervention from the party, saying the move aimed to strengthen oversight for the upcoming hearings.

'€œWe will abide by the rules. There will be no intervention whatsoever,'€ he said.

Separately, Lucius Karus, a senior researcher at the Indonesian Parliament Watch (Formappi) said that Golkar'€™s internal conflict would affect the council'€™s hearings.

'€œOn the surface, the secretary-general'€™s statements last night [Thursday] showed that Aburizal'€™s camp supported Setya. However, when we talk about Golkar, we talk about a party that is extremely pragmatic. [Golkar] can change if it receives an offer that is more beneficial down the road,'€ he said.

He said that how Golkar would respond to incentives could decide the fate of Setya.

'€œEspecially as Golkar is currently in the middle of a conflict. There is no guarantee that last night'€™s support will continue through the council hearings,'€ Lucius said.