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Yearender: KPK faces uphill battle to regain public faith
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The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) building (left) in Jakarta is pictured on June 27, 2023. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
O
nce seen as the country’s most effective graft fighting institution, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is ending 2023 with a significant public confidence deficit following an extortion scandal implicating its leader that overshadowed the high-profile arrests it made throughout the year.
In mid-October, the antigraft body arrested former agriculture minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo on graft charges. Investigators suspected him and two of his subordinates of accepting US$10,000 monthly payments from ministry officials, which they allegedly used to pay credit card bills and installments on a luxury car Syahrul had bought.
The case opened a Pandora’s box of counteraccusations that ultimately brought Firli down.
In late November, the Jakarta Police named the then-KPK chairman a suspect for allegedly extorting Syahrul during the KPK investigation into the former minister.
Firli’s lawyers maintained that the investigation and decision to name Firli a suspect were invalid and filed a pretrial motion challenging the appellation. But the court rejected the motion on Dec. 20, prompting louder calls from antigraft activists for Firli to be detained.
The KPK supervisory council, meanwhile, found Firli guilty of severe ethics violations for having had close contact with Syahrul without notifying other KPK officials since 2021, the year that the antigraft body started investigating the then-minister.
