T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has moved against the people accused of enabling graft suspect Setya Novanto to evade arrest last year by charging his former lawyer and a doctor who admitted him to the hospital with obstruction of justice.

Setya, who once led the Golkar Party and served as the House of Representatives speaker, is the first lawmaker to be charged in the multimillion dollar graft case pertaining to the e-ID card procurement project.

On Wednesday, the KPK announced that it had named Setya’s former lawyer, Fredrich Yunadi, and Bimanesh Sutarjo, a doctor working at the Medika Permata Hijau Hospital, as obstruction of justice suspects for allegedly assisting Setya in his alleged attempt to evade the KPK’s questioning.

“Both suspects allegedly colluded to admit the suspect to the hospital and manipulate his medical records,” KPK deputy chairwoman Basaria Panjaitan said.

Basaria referred to the night of Nov. 16, when Setya was reportedly involved in a traffic accident in Jakarta and rushed to a nearby hospital. The accident occurred after the embattled politician went missing the night before, avoiding arrest by the KPK.

From the KPK’s investigation, it was found that Setya was admitted directly to a VIP room instead of the hospital’s emergency unit. “Fredrich allegedly came to hospital earlier to coordinate with the hospital management,” Basaria said.

She added that the doctor had reportedly received a call from Setya’s lawyer in which the lawyer booked an entire floor of the hospital hours before the suspect was admitted.

“Investigators were also hindered in gathering information related to the reported accident, which led to Setya’s hospitalization,” she said.

Previously, the KPK had requested the Indonesian Immigration Office to issue travel bans on Fredrich, along with former journalist Hilman Mattauch, Setya’s adjutant Adj. Comr. Reza Pahlevi and another lawyer, Achmad Rudyansyah. Hilman, a MetroTV journalist, was in a car with Setya when the accident took place.

Fredrich and Bimanesh became the second and third suspects named by the antigraft body on suspicions of obstructing investigations into the e-ID graft case, which reportedly caused Rp 2.3 trillion (US$161 million) in state losses.

Last year, the KPK named Markus Nari, a Golkar politician, a suspect of the same crime for allegedly manipulating suspects and witnesses in the graft case to not testify honestly.

“We have warned everybody to honor the ongoing legal process and to not hinder the investigation into cases, especially corruption cases,” Basaria said.

“We urge those who work as lawyers and doctors to work in line with their professional’ codes of ethics and not become involved in hampering legal enforcement efforts, especially in graft probes.”

She ended the press briefing by thanking doctors at the state Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital as well as the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) that had helped investigators in the case.

In addition to naming the suspects of obstruction of justice, the graft busters have also been intensifying investigations into the graft case itself in order to uncover the involvement of other individuals in one of the biggest cases ever handled by the commission.

On Wednesday, investigators questioned Setya and his family, namely his wife Deisti Astriani Tagor and children Dwina Michaela and Rheza Herwindo.

The KPK also questioned former Hanura Party politician Miryam S. Haryani, who was previously convicted of committing perjury in the trial of the case.

“They were questioned as part of our new investigation into the graft case,” KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah confirmed.

Investigators have also questioned several politicians who served in the House during the deliberation of the procurement project between 2011 and 2012, including current Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and former House speaker Marzuki Alie from the National Mandate Party (PAN).