The deputy chairman of the House of Representatives'€™ ethic council, Junimart Girsang, has said that the council will be unlikely to hand down a light punishment for House speaker Setya Novanto over his alleged misconduct because it would be the second time the council punished him.

'€œIf he is found guilty, the council is not allowed to decide on light punishment twice,'€ said Junimart in Jakarta on Tuesday as reported by kompas.com, adding that Setya had been punished by the council when he attended a rally in October for businessman Donald Trump, who is campaigning to become the Republican Party candidate for the upcoming US presidential elections.

Junimart, who is a politician with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), referred to Article 19, paragraph 3, of House of Representatives'€™ Regulation No. 1/2015 on a code of ethics that ruled that a '€œmedium sentence is imposed on a House member who commits a mistake twice'€.

'€œSo at least, [Setya] should receive a medium sentence. It means that he should be dismissed from his position as the House speaker,'€ he added.

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said reported Setya to the House ethics council for allegedly claiming to have won the approval of President Joko '€œJokowi '€œ Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla to secure shares and projects from Freeport Indonesia in exchange for helping the company extend its contract and continue operating its gold mine in Papua.

In connection with the case, the Council had questioned Sudirman, Freeport president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin, Setya and Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Panjaitan at the council hearing. The council also summoned businessman Muhammad Reza Khalid, but he had reportedly left the country.

Maroef, Setya and Reza allegedly met, according to a recording submitted by Sudirman, to discuss the Freeport contract extension. Because of the meeting, Setya was accused of misusing the name of Jokowi and Kalla to further his personal interests. Meanwhile, Luhut was mentioned 66 times in the recording. (bbn)(+)

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