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Police deliver quick progress in Sarpin case

Jakarta Post - August 8, 2015

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Fedina S. Sundaryani, Jakarta – After only four months of investigation, the National Police have wrapped up the case dossiers of two Judicial Commission (KY) members accused of defamation by South Jakarta District Court Sarpin Rizaldi.

National Police detective division chief Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso confirmed that the dossier had been sent on Friday to the Attorney General's Office (AGO) and denied that police investigators had rushed the investigation.

"If the investigation has been finished, what else can be done? [...] We have already questioned everyone, including all the witnesses. If [the AGO] decides the dossier is incomplete then it will be returned to us," Budi said at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta.

The police named KY commissioners Suparman Marzuki and Taufiqurrohman Syahuri as suspects in the defamation case after Sarpin reported that both had smeared him by criticizing his controversial ruling that favored high-ranking police officer Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan in a pretrial case in February.

In the ruling, Sarpin ordered the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to stop investigations into the general, now the National Police's deputy chief.

The ruling proved controversial as a pretrial hearing was not authorized to determine the validity of criminal allegations against law enforcement institutions such as KPK at that time.

On Thursday evening, Taufiqurrohman's lawyer, Dedi J. Syamsuddin arrived at the National Police's headquarters to file a complaint following a tip off that the case dossier would be handed over before the investigators had questioned all the expert witnesses as recommended by the two KY commissioners.

"We truly regret the fact that the dossier will be handed over even though our expert witnesses having not been questioned," he said. Dedi said that he submitted a letter to Budi Waseso to request investigators to question the witnesses as it was within Suparman and Taufiqurrohman's rights to recommend their names.

Budi rejected their proposal saying that investigators had no obligation to use the testimonies of all witnesses recommended by suspects. "We have already questioned the expert witnesses [proposed by the KY commissioners] but we do not have to use their opinions," he said.

Shortly after Sarpin issued the controversial ruling in favor of Budi Gunawan, the KY recommended that the Supreme Court, which supervises all judges in the country, impose six months non-hearing status on Sarpin for allegedly violating ethics in the case. The recommendation has yet to be responded to by the court.

The two commissioners have repeatedly argued that their criticism was part of their jobs as KY commissioners, who are tasked with monitoring the independence and integrity of Indonesia's legal system. However, Sarpin, through his lawyer Dion Pongkor, said that the judge was within his rights to file a police report against them.

"Pak Sarpin felt that it was within his rights to report the two commissioners because they had criticized him before he delivered the ruling on [Budi's] case," he said, adding that it was a personal attack instead of a professional one.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/08/08/police-deliver-quick-progress-sarpin-case.html.