Harun Masiku's Latest News: Becomes An International Fugitive And Is Allegedly Overseas

Aaron Masiku (Source: infocaleg.com)

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said their fugitive, former PDI-P legislative candidate Harun Masiku, is now abroad. This is the reason why the anti-corruption commission registered the name of the bribery commissioner of the Election Commission (KPU) Wahyu Setiawan with the National Central Bureau (NCB).

KPK Director of Investigation Setyo Budiyanto informed Harun Masiku that he is no longer in Indonesia. However, he did not specify when the fugitive fled abroad.

"Based on information, the person concerned (Harun, ed) is suspected of leaving Indonesia or being abroad," said Setyo Budiyanto in a virtual press conference, Sunday, August 8.

For this reason, the KPK then submitted the name of the suspect giving the bribe to the National Central Bureau (NCB) of Interpol Indonesia until a red notice was finally issued on 30 July. Setyo said this was done so that his party could immediately find out the whereabouts of Harun, who had been on the run for 2 years.

"This is a form that we are serious, one of which is making efforts through coordination with the NCB, because it is to anticipate. The leadership (KPK, ed) has said before, that this effort is a step to be able to find out the whereabouts of the person concerned," he said.

He said that currently there are several countries that have coordinated with the NCB Interpol. However, Setyo did not announce it because this was internal.

This statement is in line with what was conveyed by KPK Chairman Firli Bahuri on Monday, August 2. He claimed that a number of neighboring countries had responded to the issuance of the red notice.

"Several neighboring countries have responded to the search for the suspect HM. I don't want to say which countries, but they have responded," said Firli at the time.

He said the response of neighboring countries is very important considering that the KPK cannot arrest its own fugitives. Moreover, if Harun is abroad.

"We believe we can't make the arrests ourselves, especially if our suspicions are abroad," said Firli.

"So we asked Interpol for help to issue a red notice and that has been done by Interpol," added the former Deputy for Enforcement of the KPK.

Recalling the journey of the Harun Masiku case

Harun Masiku was named a suspect in giving bribes to KPU Commissioner Wahyu Setiawan in January 2020. This bribery was carried out so that he could easily sit as a member of the Indonesian House of Representatives through time shifts or PAW.

Harun's escape began when the KPK carried out an arrest operation regarding this case on January 8, 2020. In the silent operation, the KPK named four suspects, namely Harun Masiku, Wahyu Setiawan, former Bawaslu Member Agustiani Tio Fridelina, and Saeful Bahri.

It's just that Aaron, who was not caught by OTT, is unknown. He reportedly fled to Singapore and is said to have returned to Indonesia.

This case stems from the death of a PDIP candidate named Nazarudin Kiemas. In July 2019, the party bearing the bull symbol filed a lawsuit for judicial review of Article 54 of KPU Regulation Number 3 of 2019 concerning Voting and Counting to the Supreme Court (MA).

The application was then granted and as a determinant of the interim replacement (PAW), the party bearing the bull symbol then sent a letter to the KPU to designate Harun as Nazarudin's replacement.

However, the KPU instead appointed Riezky Aprilia as a replacement for the brother-in-law of the PDI-P General Chairperson, Megawati Soekarnoputri, who had died. The reason is clear, Riezky's vote is under Nazarudin or in second place for the South Sumatra I electoral district.

Lobbying was then carried out so that Harun could become a member of the legislature. Seeing this gap, Wahyu Setiawan as the KPU commissioner said he was ready to help as long as there was an operational fund of IDR 900 million and the transaction was carried out in two stages in the middle and end of December 2019.