The House of Representatives ethics council should have been able to decide sanctions against House Speaker Setya Novanto over an ethics violation he allegedly committed without having to question oil tycoon Muhammad Reza Chalid, a council member said on Monday.

'€œThe council actually could decide sanctions [it will impose to Setya] without first questioning Reza,'€ House ethics council member from the Democratic Party, Guntur Sasono, said in Jakarta on Monday.

The lawmaker said the House ethics council actually could decide on sanctions based on statements it had obtained from both the House speaker and gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin during their hearings last week.

'€œPak Novanto admitted that he had met with them [Maroef and Reza], although he refused to acknowledge the validity of the audio recording of their conversation. Pak Maroef also admitted that he had met with those two people. From here, we could actually already confront those two statements,'€ said Guntur.

On Monday, Reza skipped his second hearing summons scheduled for 10 a.m. The businessman failed to show up for his first hearing on Dec.3.

Unlike Guntur, the House ethics council member from the Gerindra Party, Supratman Andi Agtas, said Reza'€™s testimony was necessary because he deemed the evidence obtained so far was still insufficient.

'€œIt is very necessary because if he [Reza] doesn'€™t come, all evidence may be insufficient,'€ said Supratman.

The lawmaker said the House ethics council would not be able to make a decision, such as on whether Setya violated ethics principles as a House speaker and lawmaker, without Reza'€™s testimony.

The House ethics council decided to delay Reza'€™s hearing on Monday after he did not appear in the hearing room at 10 a.m. as scheduled. The council gave him more than 30 extra minutes to show up and suspended the hearing again for another 15 minutes before it closed the session. Meanwhile, Luhut fulfilled the council'€™s summons.

House ethics council member Sarifuddin Sudding, a Hanura Party politician, claimed Luhut's summons was irrelevant for the case against Setya.

"I don't see the urgency of his questioning for this case. He wasn't involved in the meeting even though his name was mentioned multiple times," Sudding said.

Luhut's hearing began at 1:30 p.m. During the first part of the session, Luhut apparently provided no valuable information and council members asked no contextual questions. (ebf)

Popular

Java airports grounded by low demand, poor planning

Rethinking ocean finance

Trump says Indonesia to face 19 percent tariff under trade deal