T

he Jakarta Corruption Court is scheduled to open a high-profile graft trial on Wednesday that could seal the fate of a powerful politician who has managed to escape past prosecution attempts, and now sits at the center of a major graft case involving dozens of former and active lawmakers.

House of Representatives Speaker and Golkar Party leader Setya Novanto is slated to face indictment at the court for his role in the e-ID card graft case that allegedly cost the state Rp. 2.3 trillion (US$161 million).

The indictment would put an end to his legal attempt to halt his prosecution by filing a pretrial motion at a Jakarta district court, challenging the decision made by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to rename him a graft suspect in the e-ID case.

According to the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP), a pretrial motion is declared void once the prosecutors read an indictment against a defendant and the court begins its investigation.

Kusno, the sole judge presiding over the pretrial in the South Jakarta District Court, is currently in the hot seat to decide whether to void the motion or not.

Upon adjourning the pretrial to Wednesday, judge Kusno asked the KPK’s legal team to bring actual evidence to show that the first hearing on the e-ID case in the Jakarta Corruption Court had begun, a move that he said could help him decide on the pretrial.

“I demand the KPK provide concrete evidence that the case has been heard [in court], so I will know what to do,” he said during Tuesday’s hearing.

The antigraft body’s legal bureau head, Setiadi, told reporters after the hearing that the KPK would prepare any necessary measures to fulfill the sole judge’s order.

“We can easily fulfill the demand thanks to technology, maybe by using video call or streaming it live through social media,” he said.

On the other hand, Setya’s lawyer, Ketut Mulya Arsana, stated that the defense team would be ready for any decision made by the court, adding, “We will come again tomorrow [Wednesday].”

The general public and activists have worried over whether Setya would use any of his trump cards to stop the first hearing from taking place, including illness. Before the antigraft body finally detained him, Setya was well-known for skipping questioning with KPK investigators, citing illness.

KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah said, however, the antigraft body did not make any special preparations for Wednesday’s hearing, especially regarding the suspect’s health. “He was healthy [for the hearing],” he said.

“We trust that the hearing will be held as normal, as the other hearings were. It will be better if he cooperated with us,” he added.

While staying tight-lipped on the details of the indictment, to be read out on Wednesday, Febri added that the KPK would reveal the illicit money flow and more actors implicated in the e-ID graft case.

The KPK claimed that it had built a strong case against Setya after questioning 99 witnesses — ranging from former and current government officials and lawmakers, as well as businesspeople — in addition to securing sufficient evidence in the graft case.

A pretrial hearing late last week revealed that the KPK had obtained strong evidence to incriminate Setya in the e-ID graft case, including an email from luxury watch maker Richard Mille that confirmed a gift for Setya for rigging the budget deliberation earmarked for the project in the House.

The statement came from businessman Andi Agustinus, also known as Andi Narogong, during a hearing in which he acted as defendant. He said the watch, valued at Rp 1.3 billion, was a token of gratitude for Setya from Andi and another businessman, Johannes Marliem.

KPK investigators had also obtained a recording from Marliem before his death in August in Los Angeles.

Activist Tama Satrya Langkun from Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) believed that the KPK had strong evidence to build a case against Setya, provided that judges with the Jakarta Corruption Court had convicted other defendants in the case.

“Other witnesses had also mentioned Setya’s name in their testimony in previous trials,” Tama told The Jakarta Post. “I believe that the indictment will also reveal new information on the case that has not yet been shown by previous defendants,” he said. (vla)