T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said on Sunday that it was ready to face lawsuits lodged by four graft suspects who had sought to challenge their suspect statuses.

A recent lawsuit filed by National Police Education Institute (Lemdikpol) head Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan to challenge his graft suspect status went in his favor because of a historic decision by the South Jakarta District Court, prompting others who have been named suspects in graft cases by the KPK to follow suit.

The antigraft body'€™s actions are currently being contested by four graft suspects: former Democratic Party lawmaker Sutan Bhatoegana, former Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) head Hadi Poernomo, former religious affairs minister and United Development Party (PPP) politician Suryadharma Ali and a former director of state oil and gas operator Pertamina, Suroso Atmo Martoyo.

KPK legal bureau head Chatarina M. Girsang said that apart from anticipating any possible controversial decisions made by judges in the four pretrial hearings, the KPK legal team was optimistic about winning them as Sutan, Suryadharma, Suroso and Hadi met the criteria as state officials who could be investigated by the KPK.

'€œSutan was former chairman of House of Representatives Commission VII overseeing energy and minerals, while Hadi was former Finance Ministry'€™s director general of taxation and Suryadharma was former religious affairs minister, all of whom were state officials who are the subjects of KPK investigations,'€ Chatarina said.

In an unusual pretrial process that regularly does not hear challenges on the suspect status, judge Sarpin Rizaldi of the South Jakarta District Court ruled that Budi was not subject to a KPK investigation as it could only investigate a police officer who had investigative authority, hence annulling the three-star general'€™s suspect status. Budi was the National Police'€™s career development bureau head in 2004, during which time the KPK alleged he was involved in bribery.

'€œWe cannot prevent judges from deciding [other controversial verdicts]. We will just follow the rules and present our defense statements as best we can. We expect that the judges will make their decisions based on the Criminal Law Procedures Code [KUHAP],'€ Chatarina said.

The KUHAP grants no authority for a judge to rule on the legality of someone'€™s legal status through a pretrial mechanism, but Sarpin said that as a judge he had the right to interpret what was not regulated under the KUHAP by ruling that a judge could order law enforcement institutions to lift someone'€™s legal status.

Sutan'€™s pretrial hearing is slated to kick off on Monday, while Suryadharma'€™s, Hadi'€™s and Atmo'€™s will start all at once on March 30.

Chatarina said that she had asked for help from KPK prosecutors to join the legal bureau division members to fight the upcoming pretrial hearings.

KPK spokesman Priharsai Nugraha said the KPK had sent Sutan'€™s dossiers to prosecutors to prepare his indictment for an upcoming trial of a high profile bribery case despite Sutan'€™s refusal to sign the transfer of his dossiers from KPK investigators to prosecutors.

'€œHis rejection to sign the investigation completion document will not affect the ongoing process at the KPK,'€ Priharsa said on Sunday.

Separately, South Jakarta District Court insisted on processing Sutan'€™s pretrial hearing despite criticism that a pretrial hearing would automatically be voided as soon as the dossier of a suspect reached the district court.

'€œA pretrial hearing will remain valid until the district court kicks off the first trial hearing on the respective case,'€ South Jakarta District Court spokesman Made Sutrisna said on Sunday.