T

he Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO) is considering the possibility of dropping its case against Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) senior investigator Novel Baswedan and those against two former KPK commissioners, Abraham Samad and Bambang Widjojanto.

The AGO recently withdrew Novel'€™s case dossier from the Bengkulu District Court and Attorney General HM Prasetyo has said he will personally decide whether to drop the case, following an instruction from President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo to settle the case immediately.

'€œIn my capacity as the highest prosecutor in the country, I have taken over the case and it will no longer be reviewed by the junior attorney for general crimes and its prosecutors. We will listen to
the aspirations of the people ['€¦] and we have several possible options,'€ Prasetyo told reporters
at the AGO in South Jakarta on Friday, adding that a decision would be made '€œas soon as possible'€.

The charge against Novel of assault, which allegedly occurred in Bengkulu in 2004, had previously been reopened in 2012 during a standoff between the National Police and the KPK after Novel led an investigation into then-National Police Traffic Corps chief Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo.

Then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono eventually ordered the case to be dropped.

The National Police, however, dug it up again last year following the antigraft body'€™s decision to name then-candidate for National Police chief, Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, a graft suspect.

The police also named former KPK chairman Abraham and his deputy, Bambang, a suspect in document-falsification and perjury cases, respectively.

Separately, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan denied there was any deal to drop Novel'€™s case, currently being handled by the AGO, in return for his dismissal from the KPK.

However, Luhut confirmed the government wanted the case '€œto be settled in an amicable manner'€.

'€œWe don'€™t want to see [any more] trouble,'€ Luhut said.

Previously, presidential spokesperson Johan Budi said Jokowi wanted the controversial cases involving the KPK officials settled immediately and that the President was leaving the decision whether to issue a deponering, or a letter to cease the prosecution, to the AGO.

Meanwhile, antigraft campaigner Miko Ginting of the Center for Policy and Law Studies (PSHK) called on the AGO to immediately drop the case against Novel, arguing that '€œstopping the criminalization scheme would save the KPK'€.

In a surprising turn of events, the KPK has also offered Novel the option of resigning from the antigraft body and possibly continuing his anticorruption work as part of a yet-to-be-established KPK anticorruption task force located away from the main headquarters.

Many have seen the move as the leadership of the antigraft body attempting to strike a deal to nullify the assault case.

Former KPK advisor Abdullah Hehamahua said that it would be best for Novel to face trial in court to prove his innocence.

'€œIn my opinion, it would be best if Novel went along with the legal process without having to bargain with anyone. If the trial is conducted fairly then Novel will be declared innocent and will not be held hostage by the law for the rest of his life,'€ he said.

Adnan Topan Husodo of the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said that the KPK would stand to lose with the departure of Novel.

'€œThere are two major consequences for the KPK if its leadership accepts the deal. First, they will lose their most prized possession and second, [the deal] will mean that the KPK leadership has lent credence to efforts to criminalize Novel,'€ he said.