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House ethics council to clarify with minister over Setya evidence
All set: Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said (center) is pictured speaking to media
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All set: Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said (center) is pictured speaking to media. Sudirman has said he is ready to provide any evidence he has regarding his report to the House of Representativesâ ethics council over an alleged ethical violation by House Speaker Setya Novanto. (Kompas.com/Indra Akuntono) (center) is pictured speaking to media. Sudirman has said he is ready to provide any evidence he has regarding his report to the House of Representativesâ ethics council over an alleged ethical violation by House Speaker Setya Novanto. (Kompas.com/Indra Akuntono)
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span class="inline inline-center">All set: Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said (center) is pictured speaking to media. Sudirman has said he is ready to provide any evidence he has regarding his report to the House of Representatives' ethics council over an alleged ethical violation by House Speaker Setya Novanto. (Kompas.com/Indra Akuntono)
The House of Representatives' ethics council is scheduled at 1 p.m. on Wednesday to question Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said over his report of an alleged ethical violation case involving House Speaker Setya Novanto.
The questioning will focus on evidence of a conversation between Setya, oil businessman Riza Chalid and gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia's president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin, which the minister used to report the Golkar Party politician to the council.
Based on the evidence, Setya is accused of asking Freeport to give President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla an 11 percent and 9 percent share, respectively, in the mining company.
'We will examine all of the evidence. The evidence comprises a three-page conversation transcript and an audio recording file of not more than 12 minutes,' House ethics council deputy chairman Junimart Girsang said as quoted by kompas.com at the House complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday.
He further explained that the ethics council would ask Sudirman to explain why the audio recording file he provided was only 12 minutes long, while the meeting of Setya, Riza and Maroef at a hotel in Pacific Place on June 8 reportedly lasted for around 120 minutes.
Junimart said the council would ask Sudirman to hand over the complete audio recording if it was available.
'If he considers that the 12-minute long recording is enough as evidence, that's OK. But the conversation transcript must match the audio recording,' said Junimart.
Separately, Sudirman said he was ready to attend the questioning. The minister claimed that he had the full recording of the conversation and would hand over it to the ethics council if requested.
'I will hand over anything I have. I have the full recording of the conversation,' said Sudirman.
The minister said he had not previously given the full recording because he had to collate the evidence and report he wanted to file with the council. Therefore, Sudirman only reported Setya's alleged misuse of Jokowi and Kalla's names in asking for Freeport shares.
'I reported points relevant to our tasks in the energy and mineral resources sector. What I have given to the ethics council is only statements related to my report. If in the next process I need to give additional information, I will do that,' said Sudirman.
On Thursday, the council is scheduled to summon two key witnesses, namely Riza and Maroef. From the three questionings, the council will decide whether it will question more witnesses or directly summon Setya as a defendant. (ebf)
