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Court rejects KPK's decision to name Budi a graft suspect
Jakarta Globe - February 16, 2015
"The court has decided that [the KPK's investigation letter] was invalid and therefore the decision to name [Budi] a suspect doesn't have a law binding basis," said judge Sarpin Rizaldi, who led the hearing, which was broadcast on television.
The KPK said in a reaction that it would study the verdict before deciding on its next move. "We had a meeting earlier with all KPK leaders," said Johan Budi, deputy for prevention at the antigraft body. "The KPK, as a law-enforcement institution, respects the legal process and the verdict."
Johan said the KPK leaders had started discussing their next move, including the possibility of submitting a judicial review request to the Supreme Court.
"We won't decide on our next move yet, at least until we've received an official copy of the verdict from the court and studied it thoroughly," Johan said.
Budi himself was not present at Monday's hearing. Before the hearing, Budi's lawyer Maqdir Ismail had received a text from Budi telling him not to give any "controversial comment," news portal Tempo.co reported.
Maqdir was also quoted as saying that that Budi would abide by the court's verdict and he had decided that he would not pursue any further legal action.
Frederick Yunadi, another of Budi's lawyers, said that the court decision was just and the KPK must now clear his client's name.
"KPK chief Abraham Samad has told a public lie by carelessly accusing our client Budi Gunawan of involvement in a graft case," Frederick told the Jakarta Globe. "However, during the pretrial process, the KPK's investigators failed to present authentic evidence."
The Jakarta Police deployed at least 500 officers to boost security at the South Jakarta District Court on Monday morning, as hundreds of demonstrators gathered – both supporters and opponents of the three-star general.
Police also beefed up security at the KPK headquarters in South Jakarta, dispatching two armored vehicles equipped with water cannon and around 700 officers from the Jakarta Police as well as 15 officers from a unit tasked with guarding vital objects.
"This is a state asset that has to be secured," Sr. Comr. Kadarusman of the Jakarta Police said about the KPK building.
Critics have lamented the president's stalling on making a decision since Budi was named a suspect by the KPK on Jan. 13. The president's reluctance to drop the nomination – despite vocal public objection – has been attributed to his inability to defy orders of his political patron, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri. Budi has long been known to be a close associate of Megawati, serving as her adjutant during her presidency in early 2000s.
Immediately after the verdict was read out on Monday, Commission III of the House of Representatives called on Joko to soon inaugurate Budi as the next National Police chief.
"We urge [the president to inaugurate Budi] immediately – the verdict is already out," Trimedya Panjaitan, a PDI-P lawmaker on Commission III, was quoted as saying by news portal Republik.co.id.
Trimedya added that the commission expected Joko to make up his mind about Budi's inauguration before the end of the day.
Over the past month, the case has snowballed into a major KPK versus National Police saga, worse than previous conflicts involving the two law enforcement institutions, which critics have largely attributed to Joko's failure to make a decision over the matter.
In what has been widely perceived as the police's retaliation against the KPK's move, Budi had filed the pretrial motion against the antigraft body with the South Jakarta court, arguing that the KPK's naming of him as a suspect was illegitimate, citing among other reasons that such a decision should be made by a complete set of five KPK leaders.
The KPK is run by four leaders only after one of the deputy chairmen, Busyro Muqoddas, entered his retirement age in December, while lawmakers last month decided against selecting Busyro's replacement until the end of the four other KPK leaders' terms at the end of the year.
The four of them, meanwhile, are currently facing different legal charges by police over old cases that only recently resurfaced, some of which are based on reports filed by PDI-P politicians.
Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/court-rejects-kpks-decision-name-budi-graft-suspect/.
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