KPK Urged To Investigate Alleged Crime Of Money Laundering, Former MA Nurhadi Secretary

The suspect of bribery and graft, former Secretary of the Supreme Court (MA) Nurhadi. (Documentation: KPK Public Relations)

JAKARTA - Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) and Lokataru urge the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to immediately develop allegations of money laundering committed by former Secretary of the Supreme Court (MA) Nurhadi, who is now detained by the KPK due to alleged gratification.

This pressure arose because from the data they had collected, Nurhadi had an unreasonable or inappropriate wealth when viewed from the official income of a Supreme Court Secretary.

In the data, at least several assets allegedly belonged to Nurhadi, such as seven land and building assets with a value of hundreds of billions of rupiah; four oil palm business areas; eight legal entities either in the form of PT or UD; 12 luxury cars; and 12 luxury watches.

In fact, based on the Decree of the Supreme Court Number 128 / KMA / SK / VIII / 2014 concerning the Special Allowance for the Performance of Civil Servants in the Supreme Court and the Judiciary Bodies under it, it is stated that the position of Secretary of the Supreme Court as echelon 1 gets a special allowance of IDR 32,865,000. Meanwhile, the basic salary for echelon 1 officials is around Rp. 19 million.

"So it is reasonable to suspect that these assets were obtained from corruption," said ICW researcher Kurnia Ramadhana in a written statement, Wednesday, July 22.

With these facts, Kurnia emphasized that the KPK should not only stop at the allegation of bribery and gratification. He continued, the anti-graft agency should have started an investigation to get into the possibility of charging Nurhadi with money laundering.

"Not only that, the KPK is also expected to be able to investigate the potential of Nurhadi's closest parties to receive benefits for the crimes he committed," he said.

As a legal instrument, Kurnia continued, the KPK could use Article 5 of the TPPU Law with the threat of five years imprisonment and a fine of Rp1 billion.

This anti-corruption activist said that at least there were several advantages for the KPK when it prosecuted the criminal with money laundering. First, he said, investigations and investigations would not be colored by resistance or intervention from certain parties. "Because it uses the follow the money method," he said.

Second, the concept of punishment is considered in line with providing a deterrent effect for perpetrators of corruption crimes. Given that corruption as a financial crime cannot only depend on corporal punishment but must lead to impoverishment of the perpetrators of crime.

Third, the implementation of the crime of money laundering will facilitate the process of presenting evidence for the public prosecutor. "This is because Article 77 of the TPPU Law accommodates a reversal of the burden of proof. So that the Prosecutor is not fully burdened with the obligation of proof, but instead moves to the defendant himself," he said.

It is known that the KPK is currently developing a case of suspected bribery and gratuity that charged Nurhadi with the alleged crime of money laundering by collecting data on assets owned by the former MA Secretary.

To find evidence that corroborates the act of money laundering, this anti-graft agency will summon a number of sick people to ask for confirmation about existing assets.

However, because it does not have sufficient evidence to charge Nurhadi in the money laundering crime case, the KPK is still focusing on the main subject of Nurhadi's case, namely the suspicion of bribery and gratification.