KPK at the mercy of President and party leaders

Legislators' zeal at DPR, the House of Representatives, to push for revision of Law No. 30/2002 about the Corruption Eradication Commission or KPK has become unstoppable. In the face of waves of public repulsion, the Legislation Council of DPR resolved to take the revision to plenary to be approved as an official DPR initiative. As a matter of fact, the legislators have already established a working committee for the revision of KPK Law, ahead of order.

Pressure on KPK Law Revision

Leaders of KPK, the Corruption Eradication Commission, have collectively agreed to reject the draft for KPK law revision (The Jakarta Post, Wednesday February 3, 2016; page 2). The draft as proposed by the House of Representative would effectively cripple KPK's authorities in eradicating corruption. The amendment of Law no 30/2002 was listed in National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) 2016, with both government and the House agreed to deliberate the draft this year.

Budget brokers behind legislator masks

KPK, the Corruption Eradication Commission, operating under its five new commissioners, recently apprehended a legislator from the ruling party, Damayanti Wisnu Putranti, in a sting operation. She was arrested for allegedly receiving SIN$ 33,000 as bribery from Abdul Khoir, a contractor who wished to secure projects from the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing, or PUPR.

The furore of KPK's search at DPR

Corrupt politicians and sting operations

Another legislator was arrested in a corruptions case. KPK, the Corruption Eradication Commission, arrested politician Damayanti Wisnu Putranti from the ruling Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) on Wednesday night (13/1). The arrest added to a long list of legislators implicated in a corruption case.

“Suryadharma Ali gets light sentence”
Media Indonesia, Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Former Minister of Religion, Suryadharma Ali, was sentenced to six years in prison minus detainment term and a fine of ID 300m, equal to another 3 months of prison time, by the panel of judges at Jakarta Corruption Court. Suryadharma was found guilty of corruption of hajj funds and minister's operational funds (DOM). The sentence was far too lenient than the charges pursued by Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors that sought an 11-years sentence.
 

“KPK to focus target on big fish”
http://print.kompas.com/baca/2016/01/09/KPK-Fokus-Sasar-Koruptor-Kakap - Kompas, Saturday, January 9, 2016

KPK, the Corruption Eradication Commission, will focus their efforts to crackdown on heavyweight corruptors. Among the sectors under scrutiny will be taxes and money laundering. This is in line with the government's request that KPK expand their money laundering investigations.
 

No presidential warrant required

The Attorney General Office is in the middle of an investigation on an alleged corruption implicating former speaker of the house, Setya Novanto, about his demand of shares at PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI). Novanto could potentially be charged with article 15 of the Corruption Crimes Law, which reads: “Any person who attempted, assisted, or entered a malicious agreement to commit a crime of corruption, shall be penalized with sentences referred to in article 2, article 3, and article 5 to article 14.”

The next four years

On Wednesday evening, Law Commission at the parliament finally selected five commissioners to lead the Corruption Eradication Commission for the next four years. The new commissioners are Alexander Marwata, Saut Situmorang, Basaria Pandjaitan, Agus Rahardjo and La Ode Syarif. The next phase of this process will see the new commissioners presented to the President for their inauguration in the next 30 days, at the most.

“Basaria, Alexander, and Surya favored”
http://koran.tempo.co/konten/2015/12/17/389650/BASARIA-ALEXANDER-DAN-SURYA-JADI-UNGGULAN - Tempo, Thursday, December 17, 2015

Law Commission at the House of Representatives (DPR) will select five commissioners for the 2015-2019 term of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) this evening. Out of 10 candidates that participated in the fit and proper test during the last three days, parliamentarians favored Basaria Panjaitan, Alexander Marmata and Surya Tjandra.