The House of Representatives has slammed the decision by the Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO) to drop the charges against two former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leaders, saying that the AGO could only take such a decision if there was a real '€œpublic interest'€ in it.

'€œIf the AGO decided not to drop the charges, would it lead to the weakening of anticorruption efforts?'€ House Deputy Speaker Fadli Zon asked on Friday, referring to two former KPK leaders, Abraham Samad and Bambang Widjojanto.

The Gerindra Party legislator made the statement following Prasetyo'€™s move on Thursday to drop the charges against Abraham and Bambang.

Fadli said Indonesia'€™s corruption eradication efforts depended on a system instead of individuals. Moreover, he noted that Abraham and Bambang were no longer leaders of the antigraft commission.

As reported earlier, the AGO said it decided to drop the Abraham and Bambang cases in the interest of the public following its concern that continuing the two cases could be counterproductive to the government'€™s fight against corruption.

Explaining the actions of the AGO, Prasetyo said Abraham and Bambang had been widely perceived as anticorruption icons.

"Both AS [Abraham] and BW [Bambang] are known widely as figures committed to eradicating corruption," he said. This was why, he went to say, the prosecution of the two graft-busters had drawn strong criticism from the public.

Arsul Sani, a member of House Commission III overseeing legal affairs and laws, human rights and security, said the AGO'€™s decision would be questioned during a working meeting between the commission and the AGO in the next sitting session.

"In general, the commission agrees with the AGO's right to drop a case for the sake of the public interest. However, the AGO must explain why the Abraham and Bambang cases fit this explanation," Arsul said at the House complex in Jakarta on Friday.

The legislator was referring to an article from the law on the AGO that stipulates that the AGO has the authority to drop a case if it is in the public interest to do so.

Abraham, a former KPK chairman, was named a suspect by the National Police in an alleged document fraud case while Bambang was charged with perjury relating to a local election dispute at the Constitution Court when he was working as a lawyer.

Public suspicion over the criminalization of Abraham and Bambang amplified following the actions of the National Police after the KPK named then National Police chief candidate Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan a corruption suspect. (ebf)

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