"The decision has brought joy because with it the new KPK leaders who have only been in their posts for the past two months will not be burdened with past cases that should not have happened," KPK Chief Commissioner Agus Rahardjo said in a text message received on that day.
Attorney General HM Prasetyo on Thursday had decided to use his prerogative based on Article 35 c of Law Number 16 of 2004 regarding prosecution to drop and deny the cases of former KPK Chief Commissioner Abraham Samad and former KPK Deputy Commissioner Bambang Widjojanto in the interest of the general public.
"We will now move fast to implement our prevention and enforcement programs," Agus said.
KPK Deputy Commissioner Saut Situmorang also gave a positive response to the Attorney Generals decision saying, "It is positive for us in view of the spirit of improvement and reform behind it."
He said the decision reflected good intent of the Attorney Generals Office towards corruption eradication.
The Attorney General further said corruption eradication is a matter of public concern, while Samad and Widjojanto were known as figures with strong commitment to fight corruption.
He said it was feared that the spirit of corruption eradication in the country would be dampened if their cases were not immediately settled.
HM Prasetyo said that before taking the decision he had sought the advice of the Supreme Court, the House of Representatives, and the National Police.
The three institutions, especially the Supreme Court and the National Police, had fully referred the decision to him as the one who has the prerogative to decide to close or to continue a case.
There were slight differences of opinion with regards to the matter in the House of Representatives.
Besides seeking advice from state institution leaders, the Attorney General had also observed, paid attention to, and heard the aspirations and demand for justice from the public over the case.
Abraham was named a suspect for his alleged involvement in a forgery case of a population document by Ferriyani Lim, while Widjojanto was named for having allegedly advising his client to lie while he was a lawyer, long before he was named KPK Commissioner.
Several quarters have suspected that Abraham and Widjojanto were being victimized as they were named suspects after the KPK declared Commissioner General Budi Gunawan as a suspect in a corruption case. That development had ensured that Gunawan did not become the National Police Chief.
The court, however, later declared that the KPK had been wrong in naming Gunawan as a suspect, setting him free. Gunawan is now the Deputy National Police Chief.
President Joko Widodo had recently ordered the concerned agencies to expedite the settlement of their cases, as well as the case of KPK investigator Novel Baswedan.
The Attorney General had recently decided to drop the case of Baswedan due to the lack of evidence.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
