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KPK to retain Novel after Jokowi demands deal-free solution

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leaders have dropped a plan to dislodge investigator Novel Baswedan following an order from President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to settle Novel’s assault case without any back-room deals

Haeril Halim and Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, February 11, 2016

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KPK to retain Novel after Jokowi demands deal-free solution

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orruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leaders have dropped a plan to dislodge investigator Novel Baswedan following an order from President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo to settle Novel'€™s assault case without any back-room deals.

KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo, who earlier hinted at Novel'€™s possible '€œexpulsion'€ from the KPK following the Attorney General'€™s Office'€™s (AGO) decision to pull Novel'€™s case from the Bengkulu District Court, said on Wednesday that he had received the President'€™s instruction and that the KPK would comply with it.

'€œI support [the order] of the President. It is a positive gesture. The case should be settled without any deals. Novel will stay with the KPK,'€ he said.

Novel himself has earlier expressed dissatisfaction over the KPK leaders'€™ plan to offer him a position outside of the KPK.

KPK deputy chairman Saut Situmorang previously asked Novel to resign to minimize possible future conflict between the institution and the National Police.

Since Novel resigned from the National Police and became a KPK investigator, he has been involved in several high-profile investigations against top police officers, including former police traffic corps chief Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo.

In a show of revenge, the police in 2012 opened an assault case against Novel, accusing him of shooting suspects when he was serving as an officer at Bengkulu police in 2004.

Then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asked the police to drop the investigation to avoid worsening the standoff between the KPK and the police.

However, the Police reopened the case when the KPK and the police entered another standoff in January 2015 following the KPK'€™s decision to name Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan a bribery suspect.

Despite the KPK'€™s recent assault case withdrawal, Novel remains in limbo because the AGO has yet to officially drop the case, a situation that antigraft campaigners deem leaves room for negotiation between the KPK, the AGO and the police.

Agus called on the AGO to drop Novel'€™s case to comply with the President'€™s order, saying '€œIt is not us who make the decision, but the AGO.'€

In addition to Novel, the National Police also named former KPK chairman Abraham Samad and his deputy Bambang Widjojanto suspects in separate cases during the 2015 standoff, presumably because they both signed investigation warrants for Budi'€™s case.

The National Police sent both the dossiers of Abraham and Bambang to the AGO last year but their cases were left in limbo due to the AGO'€™s indecision on when it would take the two cases to court for trial.

Separately, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan emphasized on Wednesday that Jokowi wanted the three cases to be settled with certainty immediately.

'€œOf course [there will be certainty for Novel] as the President wants certainty,'€ Luhut said.

Although he stopped short of commenting on the alleged deal between leaders of the KPK, the AGO and the National Police, Luhut said he believed there was no such swap over Novel'€™s case.

Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo confirmed on Wednesday that his office had yet to make a decision to stop Novel'€™s case, saying '€œwe are still studying [Novel'€™s] dossiers'€, adding that the AGO would also consider reviewing Abraham and Bambang'€™s dossiers.

Previously, the palace has stated that Jokowi ordered the AGO to immediately settle the cases and let the AGO work on the mechanism, whether through a deponering (dropping a case in the public interest) or issuing a letter ordering prosecution be stopped (SP3).

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