Alexander Marwata Claims Jokowi Never Intervened KPK Enforcement

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Alexander Marwata claims that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has never intervened in handling corruption cases by his institution.

This was conveyed when he was present at the PBHI and Transparency International Indonesia (TII) discussions entitled 'Searching for Corruption Eradication: Maintaining Independence, Rejecting Politization', Friday, June 21.

In this discussion, the former Deputy Chairperson of the KPK, Saut Situmorang, also attended to mention the current leadership independence after the revision of the KPK Law.

"The leader is independent in carrying out his duties according to the guarantee of Article 3 of the KPK Law," Alexander said, starting his statement as shown on YouTube PBHI.

"Has I been intervened by the president or leadership (intervention, ed) for four years or five years, by the president? I say that at all the president has never intervened in handling cases at the KPK," he continued.

Alexander even showed off his achievements in dealing with corruption cases involving state officials at ministerial level. "I can prove the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, the Minister of Social Affairs, the Head of Basarnas, the Minister of Agriculture. That's more than the previous period, you know... More. Is there intervention, never at all, "he said.

Not only that, Alexander also said that President Jokowi had never summoned the head of the anti-corruption commission for the past four years. He claims that he only meets the head of state during the commemoration of World Anti-Corruption Day (Hakordia) which is usually held every December.

"So when it comes to (independence, ed) yes, I said earlier. There are too many rumors outside," he said.

Alexander also said that the current internal conditions are good and have never had a problem. The proof is that the number of prosecutions for the 2019-2024 period has reached 548 cases.

He said this number was indeed lower than the 2015-2019 period or when he served with Saut Situmorang. However, he reminded that the condition of the leadership for the 2019-2024 period was different due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the transfer of the status of non-ASN employees to ASN.

"The previous period was not experienced by such incidents. However, it can be seen that the performance of the action is not much different," he concluded.