Called Bullying Of Bansos Bribery Witness, KPK Investigators Talk About Interrogation Techniques

JAKARTA - Investigator of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Mochamad Praswad Nugraha spoke about the supervisory board's decision to sentence him and Muhammad Nor Prayoga.

He was convicted of bullying one of the witnesses to the COVID-19 social assistance bribery case, Agustri Yogasmara.

According to Praswad, what he did was a form of interrogation technique in the investigation process.

"The warning appears as our effort to stop the threats made by Agustri Yogasmara against other witnesses, as well as interrogation techniques during the investigation," Praswad said in a written statement, Monday, July 12.

He also said that the snippets of words conveyed in the ethics trial's decision did not match the context of the incident as a whole. "Among other things, the first is the atmosphere and intonation when the communication is carried out," said the investigator in the social assistance bribery case.

"Then the background of the dialogue that took place 3-4 hours earlier. Third, the effort to warn witnesses not to violate the criminal law because they provide information that is not in accordance with other evidence," added Praswad.

He considered this incident a risk because he had uncovered the COVID-19 social assistance case, the budget of which was quite massive up to IDR 6.4 trillion.

"Backlashes against corruption eradication efforts are nothing new," said Praswad.

Moreover, he considered that the punishment from the supervisory board was not extraordinary when compared to the suffering of victims of corruption in social assistance, victims of layoffs, and colleagues with disabilities. Praswad considers that they are the ones who have been deprived of their rights because they have been corrupted.

However, he hopes that this kind of incident will not happen again with other investigators who are trying to uncover bombastic corruption cases.

"We ask that the Corruption Eradication Commission Council (KPK) can consistently be a lamp of justice against various alleged ethical violations and corrupt actions that have really damaged the KPK and damaged Indonesia," he said.

While being contacted separately, the Chairman of the KPK Employee Forum, Yudi Purnomo Harahap, also considered that the two colleagues did not deserve punishment. The two investigators should be rewarded.

"Because (they, ed) succeeded in dismantling the corruption case of social assistance that became public attention and (supposedly, ed) was not punished like this," said Yudi.

It was previously reported that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Board of Representatives handed down a medium witness against the social assistance bribery investigators Praswad Nugraha and Muhammad Nor Prayoga. Against Praswad, the supervisory board sentenced him to a 10 percent salary cut for six months.

Meanwhile for the investigator named Muhammad Nor Prayoga, the supervisory board imposed a light sanction in the form of a written warning with a sentence of three months.

This decision was taken at the Assembly Deliberation Meeting on Wednesday, June 30 by Harjono as chairman of the assembly, Albertina Ho and Syamsuddin Haris as members of the assembly.

Meanwhile, reports of alleged bullying and other unpleasant actions were carried out by the social assistance witness Agustri Yogasmara.

In this case, his name is often referred to as the operator of one of the DPR members suspected of being involved, namely Ihsan Yunus. He is even said to have received a number of gifts, including two Brompton bicycles from the private sector, namely Harry Van Sidabukke.