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Lenient punishment for KPK deputy chief further erodes public trust
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In this file photo dated Jan. 9, 2020, Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) commissioner Lili Pintauli Siregar (center) and General Elections Commission (KPU) head Arief Budiman (left) listen to questions raised by journalists in a press conference on the arrest of KPU commissioner Wahyu Setiawan over alleged bribery. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
T
he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) supervisory council's decision this week to hand down a light punishment to a senior KPK official over an ethics violation has sparked anger amid the country’s waning anticorruption drive, with critics saying it only fueled public mistrust in the antigraft body.
KPK deputy chairperson Lili Pintauli Siregar on Monday was found guilty of an ethics breach for keeping in close contact with M. Syahrial, then mayor of Tanjungbalai, North Sumatra, who at the time was a person of interest in a KPK probe into alleged bribery that occurred in July 2019. The supervisory council concluded that Lili had also notified Syahrial, now a suspect, that he had been under investigation. It punished Lili by reducing her basic salary by 40 percent over the next 12 months.
Activist Kurnia Ramadhana from Indonesia Corruption Watch said the council should not have been satisfied with the temporary salary cut, considering the prevailing KPK Law mandates its leaders to quit if found to have committed misconduct.
“The punishment for Lili further tarnished the image of the KPK amid the already declining public trust in the commission," he said.
Lili's lenient sanction comes at a time when the KPK’s credibility continues to plummet under chairman Firli Bahuri, whose leadership has been marred with controversies. Most notable of these was the recent civic knowledge test, reportedly ordered by Firli, that led to the dismissal of dozens of KPK employees.
Read also: Firli instrumental in lobbying for KPK civic test, sources tell IndonesiaLeaks
Kurnia suggested that the KPK should also look further into how Lili and Syahrial communicated as there appeared to be an indication of attempted bribery.
