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E-ID graft witness sought protection before alleged suicide
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Maintaining innocence: Former Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi (pictured) prepares to testify as a witness in a graft case related to the electronic identity card (e-ID) procurement project in the second hearing of the case on March 16. (Antara/Wahyu Putro A.)
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key witness in the major graft investigation into the national electronic ID (e-ID) project had sought protection from the Witness and Victim Agency (LPSK) less than two weeks before he allegedly committed suicide in Los Angeles, the United States.
LPSK deputy chairman Hasto Atmojoyo Suroyo confirmed that Johannes Marliem had contacted his agency following the publication of his interview with Koran Tempo in which he claimed he had recordings of the e-ID project’s negotiations with lawmakers and government officials.
“I think he was afraid of something, as if he had received real threats. Unfortunately, we had yet to confirm anything by the time of his death,” he said.
Marliem asked for the form requesting admission to the witness protection program on July 31, but failed to return the form before his death, the LPSK said.
Los Angeles County Coroner’s spokeswoman Rayna Hernandez said as quoted by online news portal Los Angeles Daily News Sunday local time that Marliem “died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head."
Marliem was involved in an overnight armed standoff with the local authorities in Beverly Grove neighborhood in Los Angeles on Wednesday. He was found dead on Thursday morning. (ecn/ary)
