KPK Asks BLBI Pretrial Session To Be Postponed, Confirms Not Related To TWK Polemic

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has requested that the initial trial of a pretrial lawsuit related to the termination of the investigation into the alleged corruption case in the issuance of the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance Certificate (SKL) with the suspects Sjamsul and Itjih Nursalim be postponed.

The request was made by sending a letter to the Head of the South Jakarta District Court (PN) on Monday, 31 May. Because the KPK is still preparing letters and administration.

"KPK asked for a postponement of the trial because the KPK Legal Bureau team is still preparing the documents and trial administration first," Acting KPK Spokesperson for Enforcement Affairs Ali Fikri told reporters, Monday, June 7.

Furthermore, he denied that this delay was related to the recent polemic of the National Insight Test Assessment (TWK). Ali said, the next trial will be attended by his party.

"We emphasize that this request for postponement has absolutely nothing to do with the TWK polemic," he said.

"At the next trial, the KPK will be present as determined by the pretrial judge," Ali added.

As previously reported, the South Jakarta District Court held the first trial of the pretrial lawsuit filed by the Indonesian Anti-Corruption Society (MAKI) today, Monday, June 7.

MAKI Coordinator Boyamin Saiman said that the KPK as a law enforcement agency should respect the legal process by attending this pretrial hearing and explaining the reasons for issuing the Order for Termination of Investigation (SP3) in the BLBI case.

"Hopefully the KPK will be present as a form of respect for the legal process and of course the KPK will provide reasons, answers and evidence for the issuance of the SP3," said Boyamin in an official statement received by VOI, Monday, June 7.

Boyamin said he was confident that he would win this lawsuit. This is in view of the reason the KPK stopped the BLBI Sjamsul and Itjih cases based on the decision of the Supreme Court of Cassation (MA) which released the former Head of the National Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), Syafruddin Arsyad Temenggung of all criminal charges.

In fact, Boyamin emphasized, the law in Indonesia does not recognize one person's decision as the basis for stopping other people's cases.

"MAKI is confident that it will win this lawsuit because Indonesian law does not adhere to one person's decision as the basis for stopping other people's cases or jurisprudence. A suspect can be convicted or acquitted after going through the trial process, not on the basis of SP3 by KPK investigators," he said.

"This SP3 has been issued by the KPK on April 1, 2021 on the grounds of the release of Syafruddin Arsyad Temenggung in the BLBI case. For the SP3, MAKI has registered a lawsuit on April 30, 2021 and will have its first trial today," he added.