"He will meet the summons pending clarification (of the order)," Noersjahbani Katjasungkana, Samad's lawyer, stated.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Chief commissioner of the national anti-graft agency, Abraham Samad, will not meet the summons of the South Sulawesi regional police command for questioning, his lawyer said.

Samad was called in for questioning as a suspect in an alleged case of falsification of an administrative document.

"He will meet the summons pending clarification (of the order)," Noersjahbani Katjasungkana, his lawyer, stated at the headquarters of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) here on Tuesday.

After he was named as a suspect by the police on February 9, Samad appointed a team of lawyers from the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), led by Katjasungkana, to defend him.

According to Katjasungkana, serving a warrant is not sufficient for a summons.

"A warrant is not enough for a summons. Neither has the suspect been named, nor has the time when the crime was allegedly committed, or tempus delicti, been mentioned. Based on my opinion as a lawyer, I advised Samad to not meet the summons pending clarification and fulfillment of the requirements of a correct order for a summons. I have also requested for the questioning to be carried out here and not in Makassar," she noted.

She added that the allegations made against Samad were minor. They were related to the falsification of a residence administration document, which is regulated by article 264 (1) sub-article 266 (1) of the Criminal Code (KUHP), or article 93 of law number 23 of 2006, amended by law number 24 of 2013 on residence.

According to the article, "Anyone making a false document or falsifying a document by which one accesses a right, makes out an agreement or revokes a debt or uses it as proof or causes someone else to do so while representing the document as true and not falsified, but if falsification is detected or it is found as a result of such falsification, the use of the document caused a loss, then such a person will face a maximum sentence of six years in jail."

Katjasungkana pointed out: "If an investigation is to be carried out in this case, it would be better that it is done at the Jakarta Metropolitan Police headquarters. It is a common process. The regional police there may ask for information from the police command here, and this way, they will not need to ask persons concerned to come there."

Furthermore, despite being named as a suspect, Samad has yet to decide on whether he will resign from the post of the KPK chairman.

The police summons numbered SP.Pgl/208/II/2015/Ditreskrimum, which was dated February 16 and signed by the director general of crime investigation of the South Sulawesi regional police command, Senior Commissioner Joko Hartanto, requires Samads presence at the police quarters on Friday, February 20, at 9 a.m..

He is supposed to meet investigator Adjunct Senior Commissioner Adip Rojikan SIK, the chief of sub-directorate IV of the Directorate General of Crime Investigation of the South Sulawesi regional police command, in Jalan Perintis Kemerdekaan Km 16, Makassar, to be questioned as a suspect in the case over the falsification of an administrative document.

Samad was named as a suspect based on a complaint from Feriyani Lim, a resident of Pontianak in West Kalimantan who was also named as a suspect in a case related to the falsification of a document for a passport.

While applying for a passport in 2007, Lim falsified a document to make it seem as though she was a member of the Samad family residing in Jalan Boulevar in Masale, Panakkukang, Makassar.

With Samad being named as a suspect, it brings the count to two KPK commissioners having been named as suspects by the police so far.

However, other commissioners, including Adnan Pandu Praja and Zulkarnain, have also been reported to the police over an alleged crime they committed years ago before they became KPK commissioners.

These allegations all emerged after national police chief candidate Commissioner General Budi Gunawan was named as a suspect by the anti-corruption body. This made President Joko Widodo postpone plans to inaugurate the nominee, whose candidacy the parliament had already approved despite his status of a suspect.

In a new development, the court declared on Monday that the KPKs decision to name Budi Gunawan as a suspect over an alleged case of corruption was illegitimate.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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