The house in question reportedly is under the name of Rafael’s wife.

The cassation ruling was issued on July 16 by a three-member bench presided by justice Dwiarso Budi Santiarto.

KPK prosecutor Wawan Yunarwanto said the decision “contradicts with what we presented at [the lower] court – in which it’s clear that his assets were illegally obtained from crime,” he said in a statement on Tuesday, as quoted from kompas.com.

But Wawan refused to comment on how his agency would respond to the ruling.

“We have yet to receive the copy of the ruling. We are still waiting for it [before issuing a formal response],” he said.

In January, the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced Rafael to 14 years in prison for money laundering and accepting unlawful gratuities worth Rp 10 billion (US$ 64,4031) from taxpayers through a tax consulting firm from 2002 to 2006, as well as for accepting other gratuities worth Rp 47 billion related to his position as a taxman.

The judges at the time said Rafael had been recommending, for a fee, a tax consulting firm his wife owned, PT Artha Mega Ekadhana, to taxpayers who were being audited. The company, as reported by Kompas.id, was established in 2002 and operated until 2005.

The Jakarta High Court upheld his conviction and prison sentence in March.

Rafael's case stemmed from a criminal assault case filed against his son in early last year, which inadvertently exposed Rafael’s lavish lifestyle ­- one which did not match his wealth profile as an echelon III government official at the Finance Ministry’s Tax Directorate.

The KPK confiscated his assets in the investigation.

Rafael's lawyers previously said the wealth of his client had been subjected to the tax amnesty, or so-called voluntary disclosure program, and thus could not be used as evidence to ensnare him, Antara reported. (ipa)