Police Investigators Claim To Have 4 Evidences To Determine Firli Bahuri As A Suspect In Extortion

The Legal Team (Bidkum) of Polda Metro Jaya in the pretrial hearing of Firli Bahuri at the South Jakarta District Court/PHOTO: Rizky Adytia-VOI

JAKARTA - Corruption Crime Investigator (Dittipidkor) Bareskrim Polri AKP Denny Siregar said there were four pieces of evidence obtained to determine the inactive Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Firli Bahuri, as a suspect in the alleged extortion case against the former Minister of Agriculture, Syahrul Yasin Limpo. This statement was made when he was a fact witness presented by the advocacy team for Legal Affairs (Bidkum) Polda Metro Jaya in the trial of a pretrial lawsuit at the South Jakarta District Court. It started when Denny explained the series of investigation processes carried out such as collecting evidence and instructions to follow up on the Investigation Order (Sprindik) which was issued on October 9, 2023. "First, (the evidence) of witness testimony, the two letters, as formal, with a warrant for confiscation, searches and so on," Denny said during the trial, Friday, December 15. With the finding of the evidence, investigators then carried out a case title. As a result, it was agreed that Firli Bahuri was named a suspect. "Then, we also found evidence of instructions in the Corruption Act which was accommodated or contained in Article 26 a which after we obtained the three pieces of evidence, then we asked for expert information. There was a match between the evidence and the other evidence so that four pieces of evidence were obtained," he said. On that occasion, Denny also said that the joint investigation team of Polda Metro Jaya and Bareskrim Polri had examined dozens of witnesses. One of them is Firli Bahuri. The examination of the inactive KPK chairman was carried out twice and took place at the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Police. "The number of witnesses as many as 90 that we have mentioned earlier, including in it we have examined the suspect in his capacity as a witness and a potential suspect," said Denny. As a reminder, Firli Bahuri was named a suspect based on the results of the case title conducted on Wednesday, November 22. Several pieces of evidence that became the basis for determining the suspect, namely, foreign exchange documents worth Rp7.4 billion. Then, there were also the results of the extraction of 21 cellphones. Firli was charged with Article 12e, 12B or Article 11 of Law number 31 of 1999 concerning the eradication of corruption in conjunction with Article 65 of the Criminal Code. He faces life imprisonment. However, Firli Bahuri did not accept it and filed a pretrial lawsuit. He considered his determination as a suspect to be invalid. Firli Bahuri asked the panel of judges, Imelda Herawati, to order the Metro Jaya Police Chief, Inspector General Karyoto, to issue a Letter of Termination of Investigation (SP3) for the alleged corruption case that named him a suspect. The reason behind the request was because it was considered that the investigation warrant issued by Karyoto was invalid. This is because the letter was issued on the same day as the issuance of a police report (LP) on October 9.

Moreover, Firli's lawyer considered this, not in accordance with the provisions of the investigation and investigation process which has been explicitly and clearly regulated in Law Number 8 of 1981 concerning the Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP), especially in Article 1 point 2 of the Criminal Procedure Code in conjunction with Article 1 point 5 of the Criminal Procedure Code.