Firli Inaugurates KPK Officials Closed After Being Questioned By The Police Regarding Allegations Of SYL Extortion

KPK Chairman Firli Bahuri (Photo: Wardhani Tsa Tsia/VOI)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Firli Bahuri was finally seen at the inauguration ceremony for KPK officials today, Wednesday, October 25. This is his first appearance after he was examined as a witness in the extortion case by the KPK leadership against former Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo at Bareskrim Polri, yesterday. It is known that Firli avoided the media crew through other exits after carrying out the examination. Monitored from the Indonesian KPK YouTube, this activity was attended by the Supervisory Board, Deputy Chairperson of the KPK, and employees. The inauguration was carried out in a closed manner and no schedule was informed. Firli then welcomed the two newly appointed officials, namely the Director of KPK Prosecution Bima Suprayoga and Edi Suryanto as Director of Coordination and Supervision of Region 1. "This morning we participated in a series of appointments of human resources, KPK employees, especially those from ASN employees," Firli said in his remarks at the inauguration ceremony. "We KPK personnel hope that both of you, in our efforts to be serious and without knowing, will continue to clean this country from corrupt practices," he continued. Furthermore, Firli invites all his employees to accept both of them and they are asked to work optimally. "We hope that the two officials that we have initiated will make a big contribution to efforts to eradicate corruption," he said. As previously reported, Firli was finally questioned after he was absent on the first summons, Friday, October 20. KPK Deputy Chair Nurul Ghufron said his colleague was unable to attend because of another agenda that could not be postponed and needed to study the examination material. Ghufron said Firli had just received a summons from the Polda Metro Jaya as a witness in the extortion case on Thursday, October 19. So, he asked for a reschedule which was finally scheduled by police investigators on Tuesday, October 24. However, when they were about to be questioned, the police received a letter from the head of the anti-corruption commission asking for an examination to be transferred by the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Police. As for Firli, he was questioned for seven hours until 19.30 WIB from 10.00 WIB. The Director of Special Criminal Investigation at the Polda Metro Jaya Kombes Ade Safri Simanjuntak did not specify the number of questions asked by the Joint Investigation Team of the Directorate of Special Criminal Investigation of the Polda Metro Jaya and the Directorate of Corruption Crimes at Bareskrim Polri. Ade only said that the KPK chairman was asked to explain the alleged extortion carried out by the KPK leadership and his meeting with Syahrul Yasin Limpo.

"There are several questions that we ask him regarding the criminal acts that we are currently investigating," he told reporters, Tuesday, October 24.