Evidence Only Print Out Media News, Judge Rejects MAKI Pretrial Lawsuit Against Trade Minister M. Lutfi

JAKARTA - The sole judge of the Central Jakarta District Court, Dewa Ketut Kartana, rejected a pretrial lawsuit filed by the Indonesian Anti-Corruption Society (MAKI) against the Minister of Trade in the alleged cooking oil mafia case.

"The petitioners' request to file a pretrial trial is very premature. Therefore, the petitioners' petition must be rejected," said Dewa Ketut at the trial of the pretrial cooking oil mafia lawsuit filed by MAKI in Jakarta, reported by Antara, Monday, April 25.

Dewa Ketut revealed that one of the judges' considerations was the evidence submitted by the applicants in the form of a print out of a news story from online media.

The news contained a statement from the Minister of Trade Muhammad Lutfi regarding his party having pocketed the names of potential suspects for the cooking oil mafia and will reveal them on Monday, March 21.

However, as of Tuesday, March 29, the Minister of Trade has not disclosed the names of the potential suspects.

MAKI Coordinator Boyamin Saiman suspects that there has been an illegal and unlawful termination of the investigation. On this basis, his party sued the Minister of Trade.

"Can such a statement (have pocketed the names of potential suspects, ed.) can be concluded that the investigators have carried out the process or have even carried out an investigation?" said Dewa Ketut. Dewa Ketut emphasized that the statement of the Minister of Trade in the news was not strong evidence to show that the Ministry of Trade had conducted an investigation or investigation.

To show that the ministry has conducted an investigation and investigation, evidence is needed in the form of a warrant to conduct an investigation or investigation. If there is a warrant and the Ministry of Trade does not do it, then a pretrial lawsuit can be made.

"If such a statement has been concluded that the investigator has carried out a process or a series of investigative actions, (could) cause the order or legal system or procedure to be disrupted because anyone who has an allegation will be able to file a pretrial against a series of events that are still in the form of a statement, ' said Dewa Ketut.

Therefore, he stated that the pretrial lawsuit by MAKI and the Indonesian Justice Society Aspirations Association (ASMAKI) was premature and the judge rejected the lawsuit.

"Judging, rejecting the application of the pretrial applicants. Setting the cost of the case in this case is nil," said Dewa Ketut.