Interrogation Technique Leads To Sanctions Of 2 KPK Investigators For Being Harassed By Social Security Witnesses

Gedung KPK (Irfan Meidianto/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Supervisory Board of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has imposed sanctions on two investigators in the alleged bribery case for COVID-19 social assistance, namely Mochammad Praswad Nugraha and Muhammad Nor Prayoga. Both were found to have violated ethics because they were bullying when examining Agustri Yogasmara, who was a witness in the case.

However, Praswad spoke up and said that what he and his colleagues were doing was an interrogation technique. In addition, this investigator also considered that the KPK Supervisory Board did not fully see the context of the incident which was referred to as a form of bullying of witnesses.

The decision of the supervisory board was read out in the trial of the code of ethics decision related to the social assistance case investigation which was held on Monday, July 12.

"Stating that one examinee, Mochammad Praswad Nugraha and two, Muhammad Nor Prayoga, are guilty of violating the code and code of conduct in the form of bullying and harassment of other parties," said a member of the KPK Supervisory Board who is also the Chair of the Ethics Council Judges, Harjono in a statement. online trial.

In the trial, Praswad was given a moderate sanction in the form of a 10 percent salary cut for 6 months. Meanwhile, against Nor Prayoga, the supervisory board imposed a light sanction in the form of a written warning with a sentence of three months.

The thing that burdens both of them is that they have abused the trust given by the leadership. While the mitigating thing is that both admit their actions and even promise not to repeat their actions.

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.

Chronology of bullying of witnesses

In the trial, the KPK Supervisory Board explained the chronology of the bullying carried out by the two when conducting an examination of Yogas, who is often referred to as an intermediary for DPR RI member Ihsan Yunus.

At first glance about Yogas, he once received two Brompton bicycles from a private party who gave bribes in this case, namely Harry Van Sidabukke. In addition, Yogas is also said to have received Rp 1.53 billion.

Returning to the trial, the two investigators said the supervisory board bullied Yogas on two different occasions, namely during a search at Yogas' residence on January 12 and during an examination at the KPK Red and White House the day after or January 13.

At Yogas' residence, the KPK Supervisory Board said the bullying was carried out verbally with various remarks made.

"Who are you? Who are you? Until someone came here to buy 3 million packages," said the KPK Supervisory Board imitating Praswad's statement.

"This is sir, this ignorant person, you are holding 3,600,000 packages, crazy, suddenly people in Indonesia bought 3,600,000 packages for you, what crazy, who are you? this person is crazy, this person is crazy, what are you when you come... ucuk-ucuk, are you crazy, come and ask for a package, do you realize that you have been really stupid for half an hour, I'll tell this person, people This is crazy," Praswad said to the RT head at Yogas' residence as imitated by the supervisory board during the trial.

In addition to words, the two investigators also showed intimidating body language such as lifting their feet, pointing at witnesses to pointing at their own temples while saying, 'think!' and a number of other gestures.

This bullying was also mentioned by the KPK Supervisory Board during an examination at the KPK, precisely on the 2nd floor of the KPK Red and White Building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta on January 13 last.

At that time, these two investigators again made a number of intimidating statements such as 'this must go to jail', 'woi you, if this is the police station, I made you limp, right, fortunately you met me at the KPK'.

Not only that, both of them also showed an intimidating attitude as if they were going to throw something at Yogas.

All of these facts are supported by the testimony of witnesses, namely Yogas and a number of parties who have been examined. In addition, the supervisory board has also examined the evidence related to this incident.

After hearing the decision of the KPK Supervisory Board, KPK investigator Mochammad Praswad Nugraha spoke up. According to him, what he did at that time 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 mentioned that the words conveyed by the supervisory board in the ethics trial 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 concluded.