REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) will speed up the settlement of cases after conducting internal consolidation following the appointment of three acting commissioners, KPK deputy chief commissioner Johan Budi said here on Wednesday.
"Trust me, the KPK will move on and speed up like before. The word 'speed up' has never been uttered lately. After recovering from a number of recent incidents that drained the KPK's leadership as well as other elements in the institution of much energy and slowing it down, the anti-graft will now move on to handle pending cases and carry out prevention programs that have been launched so far," he stated.
During January and February, the KPK remained weak, as its chief commissioner Abraham Samad and deputy commissioner Bambang Widjojanto were named suspects by the police and the term of another deputy chief, Busyro Muqoddas, expired leaving only two deputy chief commissioners, Zulkarnain and Adnan Pandu Praja, to lead the institution.
On February 18, President Joko Widodo appointed Taufiqurrahman Ruki, Indriyanto Seno Adji, and Johan Budi as acting chief commissioner and deputy chief commissioners, respectively, to fill the vacancies.
Although Taufiqurrahman Ruki noted that the KPK still ran at a level-2 speed, Johan remarked the KPK can run at level 5 after the internal consolidation.
"Speed 2 is for ascending and after that we can use speed 4 to 5 depending on the engine's strength, meaning whether it will break down or not. Let us wait. You must not judge the KPK based on who we catch. Saving natural resources, which may add Rp10 trillion to the state's income, is also a part of the KPK's job," he explained.
Johan admitted there has been a change in the distribution of jobs after the recent incidents.
"The first has been filling vacancies in structural posts in several directorates and bureaus. We have put personnel in other posts besides including probe officers, investigators, and non-investigating officials. We will also recruit new personnel," he added.
According to Johan, the KPK will focus on settling 36 cases that are still under investigation.
"At this early stage since our appointment, we have to conduct 'a road show' and carry out enforcement and prevention in the midst of a number of pretrial suits that have forced us to send 10 prosecutors to assist in the legal bureau," he pointed out.
He admitted that the flow of pretrial suits have changed the KPK's focus. The KPK is currently facing five pretrial suits after it lost the case of former national police chief candidate Commissioner General Budi Gunawan.
On February 16, judge Sarpin Rizaldi at the South Jakarta district court ruled that Budi Gunawan's naming as suspect by the KPK was illegitimate and therefore legally unbinding.
However, on Wednesday, the South Jakarta district court rejected former Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali's pretrial suit against the KPK's decision naming him in an alleged graft case.
"The court is of the view that whether or not the naming of a suspect is legitimate is not a pretrial domain, so the application is entirely rejected," Tatik Hadiyanti, the sole judge handling the case, ruled.
The KPK hopes to use the latest court ruling as a reference in other pretrial sessions.
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