When Lili Pintauli Talks About Abuse Of Authority But She Has Violated The Code Of Ethics

KPK Deputy Chairman Lili Pintauli Siregar (Photo: Aloysius Lewokeda/Antara)

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairperson of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Lili Pintauli is moving to voice the prevention of riots in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). She even spoke about the abuse of authority even though she was once declared to have violated ethics and was given severe sanctions by the KPK Supervisory Board for similar actions.

Lili Pintauli alluded to the abuse of authority that officials often do because they are accompanied by certain parties who want to make a profit. This was conveyed when she spoke in front of all regional heads, elements of the PLN Forkompimda for the Nustra region, Maluku, Papua; and representatives of the Ministry of ATR/BPN for the NTT Province on Monday, October 25 yesterday.

Initially, Lili asked regional heads in the province to be aware of corruption-prone points that often make officials fall into the abyss of violent crime.

"The mode of corruption of regional heads is not far from bribery and gratification in granting permits, buying and selling positions and kickbacks in procurement," she said at the event as quoted from her written statement, Tuesday, October 26.

Thus, she reminded regional heads that their real enemy is themselves who take advantage of their position and those around them who are accompanying them to get the opportunity to enrich themselves by illegal means.

"Who are our enemies? We ourselves and the people around us are taking advantage of our position," she said.

Furthermore, Lili then asked regional heads to establish regional policies in accordance with the norms, standards, procedures, and criteria set by the central government.

This method, she continued, is believed to make regional heads able to run the wheels of government in an accountable and in accordance with applicable laws and regulations and prevent them from being caught in corruption cases. Moreover, since 2004 there have been hundreds of regional leaders in the country who have been ensnared by various modus operandi.

"It is recorded that 152 regional heads are perpetrators of corruption based on data on the handling of KPK cases from 2004 to March 31, 2021," she explained.

Lili may remind about abuse of authority so that regional officials are not entangled in corruption cases. However, she actually did the same thing, namely taking advantage of her position as Deputy Chairman of the KPK until she was finally sentenced to severe sanctions in the form of cutting her basic salary by 40 percent for a year.

The sanction was imposed after she used her position for her personal interests and was proven to be directly related to the former Tanjungbalai Mayor M Syahrial who was caught in the bribery case of buying and selling positions.

"Try and declare the examinee Lili Pintauli Siregar guilty of violating the code of ethics and code of conduct in the form of abuse of influence as a KPK leader for personal interests and relating to the party whose case is being handled," said Chair of the Ethics Council Tumpak Hatorangan in an online trial, Monday, August 30.

In the trial, it was revealed how the introduction between Lili and M Syahrial led to an ethical violation. Member of the Ethics Council Harjono said the introduction of the two took place in February-March 2020.

At that time, Lili met Syahrial on a flight from Medan to Jakarta and they took a selfie together.

From that meeting, it was known that Lili had asked about the payment of service fees for her sister-in-law, Ruri Prihatini Lubis who works at PDAM Tirta Kualo Tanjungbalai. After the conversation, Syahrial then took the initiative to ask for the mobile number of the former LPSK Commissioner.

After exchanging cell phone numbers, Syahrial then contacted Lili to inform her of the payment of the service fee amounting to Rp53,334,640 which was paid in three installments. Next, communication again occurred in July 2020.

At that time, Lili contacted M Syahrial because his name was in the corruption dossier of buying and selling positions at the Tanjungbalai City Government. "The examinee contacted M Syahrial at the time of the examination saw the file of sale and purchase of positions in the name of witness M Syahrial on her desk by saying 'this is your name on my desk, shame on you, you still take Rp. 200 million'. M syarial answered and said 'that's an old case, ma'am, please help'," Harjono said.

"Then the examinee replied 'just pray'," he added.

However, the Executive Secretary and other KPK leaders apparently never received or read files or records related to the case of buying and selling positions that ensnared M Syahrial.

Then, in October 2020, Syahrial again contacted Lili and asked her to help handle the alleged corruption case. This communication was carried out after investigators conducted a search in North Labuhanbatu, North Sumatra.

It was during this communication that Lili asked Syahrial to contact Arif Aceh, a lawyer from Medan to help him.

"The examiner suggested that Syahrial contact a lawyer in Medan by saying, 'yes, this is Arif Aceh's number, communicate with him'," said Harjono.

Even though at that time the KPK Supervisory Board declared her guilty of violating ethics, Lili did not express any regret or apology for her actions. She only thanked him after the trial closed.

"Thank you, sir," said Lili as quoted from the trial which was held online.

"So ma'am, do you have something to say?" asked Tumpak ending the trial.

"Thank you, sir," said the former commissioner of the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK).

She also made a similar statement outside the courtroom. However, Lili added that she still accepted the verdict that had been handed down on her.

"I accept the response of Supervisory Board. I accept, there is no other effort," she said.