BIN Denies Contents Of Rizieq Shihab's Pleidoi Regarding Meeting And Agreement Letter With Budi Gunawan

JAKARTA - The State Intelligence Agency (BIN) denied the contents of the memorandum of defense or Rizieq Shihab's plea which stated that there had been a meeting with General (Ret.) Budi Gunawan in Saudi Arabia. BIN confirmed that there was no agreement letter whatsoever.

"The issue of a meeting with Pak Budi Gunawan in Saudi Arabia never happened," said Deputy VII BIN, Wawan Hari Purwanto in his statement, Thursday, June 10.

For the letter of agreement that Rizieq claimed, Wawan continued, its whereabouts were never known. If there is, the letter should be recorded in the archives.

"Regarding the letter, I have never seen the letter. So far, MoUs have only been carried out between institutions, not individuals. Every MoU is usually stated in a letter and the letterhead bears the logo of an official agency. Because I have never seen it, I can't confirm it," he explained. he.

For that reason, Wawan also asked Rizieq to prove the existence of the agreement before the court. In this way, the panel of judges will be able to confirm the validity of the letter.

"Because this has been entered in court, then if the letter is shown, the judge will judge the legality and validity of the letter after a forensic examination has been carried out," he said.

As for Rizieq's claim, who also met with General (Ret.) Tito Karnavian, who was the National Police Chief at the time, Wawan was reluctant to comment. The reason, it is not within his authority.

"As for the meeting with Pak Tito as the National Police Chief at that time, he asked him directly," he said.

Previously reported, in a memorandum of defense for the UMMI hospital swab case, Rizieq Shihab said he had met General (Ret.) Budi Gunawan at a hotel in Jeddah, in early June 2017.

It's just that Rizieq did not go into detail about the conversations at the meeting. He only confirmed that the meeting resulted in an agreement.

"The result of the meeting was very good, we made a written agreement in black and white which was signed by me and the BIN Operations Commander Major General TNI (ret) Agus Suharto in front of the Head of BIN and his team, then the letter was brought to Jakarta and witnessed and also signed by the chairman General MUI Center KH Ma'ruf Amin who is now the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia," said Rizieq.

"Among the contents of the agreement are to stop all legal cases for me (Rizieq) and friends so that there is no more slander of criminalization, and agree to prioritize dialogue rather than mobilizing masses, and are ready to support all policies of the Jokowi government as long as they do not conflict with the teachings of Islam and the Indonesian constitution," he continued.

In fact, Rizieq also mentioned that he met with General (Punr) Tito Karnavian, who at that time served as the National Police Chief. The meeting took place twice in 2018 and 2019.

During the meeting, Rizieq emphasized three things, including stopping religious blasphemy, stopping the rise of the PKI, and stopping the sale of state assets to foreigners and foreigners.