Azis Syamsuddin Calls Prosecutors' Evidence Illegal, KPK: Please Prove It!

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has asked former Deputy Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Azis Syamsuddin, to prove his accusation that the evidence belonging to the public prosecutor (JPU) is fake.

This was conveyed in response to Azis' statement at the trial of the alleged bribery handling of the case in Central Lampung that ensnared him. At that time, the former deputy chairman of the Golkar Party said that the evidence stating that Edy Sujarwo was his subordinate was an illegal letter.

"Let the defendant prove otherwise," said Acting KPK Spokesperson for Enforcement, Ali Fikri, to reporters, Tuesday, January 4.

Ali said that a defendant in a corruption trial often denied witness statements. "But we need to say that we certainly have strong evidence for the alleged actions of the defendant," he said.

Even so, the KPK believes the facts presented at the trial are undeniable. Moreover, from the trial it was clear that Edi Sujarwo's role with Azis was correlated.

"From the facts of the trial based on the testimony of witness (former Regent of Central Lampung) Mustafa, it is very clear that there is a correlation between Edi Sujarwo's role and the actions of the defendant. This fact is undeniable," Ali explained.

"Edi Sujarwo's actions actually strengthened the indications of his closeness to the defendant as a member of the DPR at that time," he added. Previously, Azis denied that the private sector, Edy Sujarwo, was his subordinate. He conveyed this rebuttal in the trial for alleged bribery in handling the case in Central Lampung on Monday, January 3.

Not only that, Azis said that the evidence in the form of a letter owned by the KPK prosecutor was illegal. "The evidence presented by the Public Prosecutor is that it is evidence of a letter signed by Sujarwo, I have never been consulted, and never knew, and the letter is an illegal letter in my opinion," said Azis at the time.

He said he never asked Jarwo to be his subordinate. In fact, Azis claimed to be responsible for his statement.

"I declare that I can be responsible for the things that I say," said Azis.

For information, Azis was charged with bribing former KPK investigator Stepanus Robin Pattuju worth Rp3.09 billion and US$36 thousand. The money was given so that the investigator from the National Police could secure him in the alleged bribery of the Central Lampung Regency Special Allocation Fund (DAK) in 2017.