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he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) will press ahead with its probe into, and possible detention of, former president director of state port operator PT Pelindo II, RJ Lino, following the South Jakarta District Court'€™s rejection of his pretrial plea on Tuesday.

KPK deputy chairman Alexander Marwata said that following the ruling investigators planned to question Lino, and other individuals, to complete his case dossier prior to his upcoming trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court.

Lino was named a graft suspect late last year for his alleged role in the rigging of the procurement of loading and unloading equipment worth US$20 million for Pelindo II in 2012.

'€œAfter questioning witnesses and the suspect in the case, we will send his dossier to the court,'€ Alexander said, following the court'€™s decision.

He added that KPK leaders would soon convene with investigators working on Lino'€™s case to decide when Lino would be taken to the antigraft body'€™s detention center.

On Tuesday, South Jakarta District Court'€™s sole judge Udjiati in her ruling deemed the KPK'€™s investigation into Lino legitimate.

Udjiati rejected Lino'€™s pretrial arguments, which claimed the charges brought against him by the KPK lacked legal foundation and evidence.

'€œThe examination has confirmed that the KPK had collected at least two initial items of evidence before naming the plaintiff a suspect, thus, the plaintiff'€™s claim that the KPK failed to collect enough evidence in the case is incorrect and should be rejected,'€ the judge said.

Udjiati added that she found no argument to order a halt to the investigation, as requested by Lino, because the KPK had collected at least 18 documents and questioned dozens of witnesses in its probe into Lino'€™s role in the graft case.

The judge also ruled that KPK investigators working on the case had clear mandates. '€œKPK investigators working in the case are also legitimate because the KPK has the authority to appoint its own investigators as mandated by law. The KPK also questioned [him] in the case before naming him a suspect. So all necessary elements have been fulfilled,'€ Udjiati said.

The judge also rejected Lino'€™s request to order the KPK to present proof of state losses caused by Lino'€™s intervention in the controversial procurement, which the KPK has claimed resulted in $3.6 million in state losses, saying '€œsuch a request should be made during the hearing of the case at the Jakarta Corruption Court in the future, not at a pretrial hearing'€.

Lino'€™s lawyer Maqdir Ismail lambasted Udjiati for what he called a '€œdangerous'€ ruling, saying the judge should have responded to his request for the KPK to present evidence on state losses in the case during the seven-day pretrial hearing.

'€œYou can'€™t just charge someone with corruption, in this case under Article 2 of the Corruption Law, without trying to prove that his or her actions have caused state losses. That'€™s something that the KPK failed to show during the pretrial hearing,'€ Maqdir said.

The KPK has also accused Lino of abusing his authority by directly appointing an unqualified company, namely Chinese company Wuxi Huadong Heavy Machinery (HDHM), to supply the equipment.

Meanwhile, Lino is now the target of a police investigation and investigators working on his case are expected to name him a suspect soon.

Police investigators are looking into his alleged role in a separate controversial procurement of 10 mobile cranes worth Rp 45 billion ($3.25 million) for nine of Pelindo'€™s ports in 2012 after the police received an audit from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) confirming a total of Rp 37.9 billion in state losses in the case.

Earlier, BPK spokesman Yudi Ramdan Budiman confirmed that the audit found a number violations of laws and regulations in the crane procurement during the planning, auction and contract-awarding process.
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