Authorities of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) will not be damaged by the government and House of Representatives' deliberations of the Criminal Code (KUHP), a minister has said.

Through a statement received by The Jakarta Post, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Hamonangan Laoly said on Wednesday that the KPK did not need to worry because corruption-related articles that had been included in the KUHP bill were not designed to extenuate the punishment for graft perpetrators.

“Laws that regulate corruption crimes are exempted from the Criminal Code; hence these laws are categorized as lex specialis [special laws]. It means articles [related to corruption investigations] in the 2001 Corruption Law will not be repealed,” Yasonna said.

As previously reported, the House’s KUHP bill working committee (Panja), along with the government, has decided to include some corruption-related articles in the bill. All this time, the KPK has been using the 2001 Corruption Law to conduct antigraft investigations. This decision has triggered KPK protests as the antigraft body considers it may hinder the progress of its work in solving corruption cases.

Yasonna further said the KPK still had the authority to conduct investigations over graft cases as stipulated both in the existing Corruption Law and the KUHP bill.

“Articles for corruption crimes have also been included in a chapter on special crimes in the bill,” he said. (dpk/ebf)