KPK Says Judge's Decision is Right, Not Accepting Hasto's Pretrial Motion

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission or KPK, Setyo Budiyanto, believes that the judge's decision was proportional and appropriate in rejecting the pretrial motion submitted by the suspect Hasto Kristiyanto. This is in line with the arguments presented by the KPK legal team. On the other hand, Hasto Kristiyanto's camp is disappointed with the judge's decision.

This was revealed after the pretrial verdict hearing on the suspect status lawsuit of Hasto Kristiyanto at the South Jakarta District Court, Thursday (13/2/2024). The hearing was presided over by Sole Judge Djuyamto and attended by the legal teams of both parties.

According to Setyo Budiyanto, the judge's decision indicates that KPK investigators have worked in accordance with the prevailing rules and regulations. There were no legal boundaries violated by the investigators as stated in the arguments of the KPK legal team.

"The judge's decision is already proportional and appropriate as per the considerations of the arguments and reasoning presented by the legal team from KPK," said the three-star police general.

The next step for the KPK, said Setyo, is to continue the investigation process. The investigation team will reschedule summons and other coercive measures as needed for case handling.

The Deputy Chairman of the KPK, Fitroh Rohcahyanto, added that the judge's decision indicates that the KPK's action of naming Hasto as a suspect was truly based on legal evidence. The issues of politicization and criminalization that have been developing are thus refuted.

The judge's decision was proportional and appropriate as considered from the arguments and grounds submitted by the KPK legal team.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Central Executive Board of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), who is also part of Hasto's legal team, Ronny Talapessy, explained that the judge's decision does not mean rejecting or not granting the pretrial lawsuit. The decision is that the pretrial request cannot be accepted because it does not meet the administrative requirements.

"However, according to us, this is actually not a problem because the object is the same, the suspect is the same. But we respect the judge's interpretation of the matter," said Ronny.

Moreover, Ronny continued, the judge's considerations have not yet referred to or touched upon the object of the examination, namely the suspect status of Hasto Kristiyanto. Therefore, there is potential to submit a new pretrial request. However, this has not yet been decided by the legal team.

"So, once again, we need to say that this is not over. There is no decision on the substance of our pretrial motion being rejected," Ronny said.

Meanwhile, Sole Judge Djuyamto decided not to accept Hasto Kristiyanto's pretrial motion. This is because Hasto is a suspect in two cases, while the applicant did not clearly specify the invalidity of the suspect determination in which case. The judge did not touch and consider the evidence or witnesses in the trial.

"Adjudicating, granting the exception from the respondent (KPK). Second, declaring the pretrial request of the petitioner to be vague or unclear, declaring the pretrial request of the petitioner to be inadmissible," stated Djuyamto.