TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Fadli Zon could lose position after asking KPK to halt Setya investigation
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
House of Representatives deputy speaker Fadli Zon speaks to journalists regarding the complaint against him made by several non-governmental organizations to the House's ethics council on June 30. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak)
G
erindra Party politician Fadli Zon may have to give up his position as a House of Representatives deputy speaker following his controversial decision to ask the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to suspend the criminal investigation into Setya Novanto.
House’s Ethics Council Chairman Sufmi Dasco Ahmad said the council was now looking at whether Fadli had committed an ethics breach by signing and sending a letter to the KPK asking it to halt Setya's case in his capacity as a deputy House speaker.
Setya, who serves as House speaker, has been named a suspect in a high-profile graft case surrounding the national project to procure electronic identification (e-ID) cards.
Antigraft activists grouped under the Indonesian Anti-corruption Community (MAKI) have reported Fadli to the House’s ethics council for allegedly abusing his position to help Setya.
“The harshest punishment that can be imposed on him if found guilty is being removed from his position,” Dasco said Thursday. “This happened to [former House speaker] Ade Komaruddin previously,” he added.
Dasco, a politician from the Gerindra Party, of which Fadli is also a member, said that Ade, a Golkar Party politician, was removed from his position last year after he was found guilty of abusing his position to influence a budget deliberation.
In his defense, Fadli said he had sent the letter on behalf of Setya as a “member of the public” not as a deputy House speaker. In the letter, Setya requested the KPK suspend his investigation until the South Jakarta District Court had issued a ruling on his pre-trial motion challenging the KPK’s decision to name him a corruption suspect. (ary)
