Preventing Conflict Of Interest Is The Reason For Lili Pintauli Not To Take Part In The Tanjungbalai Bribery Case

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairperson of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Lili Pintauli Siregar will continue to take care of the alleged bribery case involving the termination of the case involving the Mayor of Tanjungbalai M Syahrial and his former investigator, Stepanus Robin Pattuju.

This assurance was conveyed by Acting KPK Spokesman Ali Fikri even though Lili's name appeared in the trial where M Syahrial sat as a defendant on Monday, July 26. According to him, Lili's participation will not be disturbed by the mention of the name.

"Witness testimony cannot be judged as a legal fact if it is not related to other statements or evidence," said Ali to VOI.

During the trial, Stepanus, who was presented as a witness, said that the communication between Lili and M Syahrial was related to the investigation into the alleged sale and purchase of positions in the Tanjungbalai City Government. However, Ali said Stepanus' testimony must be tested further in the agenda of the follow-up trial.

He also ensures that there will be no conflict of interest in any strategic decisions taken in the investigation of this bribery case. The reason is that the KPK leadership did not take part in making decisions because matters relating to the trial are the task of the KPK Public Prosecutor Team (JPU).

Even if there is a decision that involves the leadership, it will only happen at the end of the case or when the prosecution of the defendant is carried out. However, all decisions are taken collectively collegial.

"We need to emphasize that the decision is also a collegial collective decision between the leadership, the public prosecutor's team, the director of prosecution, and the deputy," he said.

Although Ali confirmed that there was no conflict of interest, the Coordinator of the Indonesian Anti-Corruption Society (MAKI) Boyamin Saiman said that Lili should not interfere in the handling of the Tanjungbalai bribery case.

"This Mrs. Lili should not involve herself in meetings related to the Tanjungbalai corruption and all cases including the alleged involvement of the Deputy Speaker of the DPR RI Azis Syamsuddin," Boyamin told VOI, Tuesday, July 27.

He even mentioned, Lili should deactivate herself while waiting for the trial process. Moreover, the Tanjungbalai bribery case related to the termination of the handling of this case is still long and could ensnare other parties.

"Legawa deactivated himself, did not participate in the handling of the case and his tail," said the anti-corruption activist.

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Kurnia Ramadhana also has the same opinion and encourages Lili Pintauli to withdraw from all processes of handling the case.

According to him, this has also been explicitly regulated in Article 4 paragraph (1) letter j of the Supervisory Board Regulation Number 2 of 2020 which reads: "every member of the KPK is obliged to resign from assignments if in carrying out their duties it is suspected that a conflict of interest is suspected".

"Lili Pintauli must immediately resign from the process of handling the case. Because, later it is feared that the decision from the person concerned will have the nuances of a conflict of interest," said Kurnia.

Previously, former KPK investigator Stepanus Robin Pattuju bluntly stated that the inactive Tanjungbalai Mayor Muhammad Syahrial admitted that he had been called by Lili Pintauli regarding the case being investigated.

He said that Syahrial had asked for Lili's help. From her testimony, it was Lili who first called Syahrial and stated that the case file was on his desk.

"At the beginning, the defendant (Shahrial) said that she had just received a call from Mrs. Lili who said that 'Yal, how are you? Your file is on my desk,' Mrs. Lili conveyed to the defendant at that time," said Stepanus.

"Then the defendant told Mrs. Lili 'help ma'am', then after that, Mrs. Lili said 'Yes, I have met my person in Medan whose name is Fahri Aceh'," he added, recounting Syahrial's statement.