REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) said political deal might have been behind the decision of the attorney general to shelve the Setya Novanto corruption case.

"There were fears that there have been political deals as the attorney general was a cadre of a political party and Setya Novanto is also from a political party," Emerson Yuntho, an ICW leader, said here on Wednesday.

In the beginning the attorney general was so aggressive in seeking to prosecute Setya Novanto over his alleged misuse of the name of the president in demanding a share in PT Freeport Indonesia.

In December 2015, the junior attorney general for special crimes talked big about indications of corruption in the case of Setya Novanto, Emerson said.

The junior attorney general even went as far as saying that there was 'evil plot' over the shares demanded by Setya Novanto when the case was still in the hand of the Parliament ethics council, he said.

However, all of a sudden the attorney general office looked to be out of steam in pursuing the case.

Last week Attorney General HM Prasetyo said his office could not pursue the case until Riza Chalid, a businessman also involved in the evil plot, was brought in to testify.

Riza was already abroad before the immigration office banned him from leaving the country.

It is also a big question that the attorney general office has made no serious attempt to find Riza, Emerson said, adding the attorney general has not asked police to announce a red notice on Riza, Emerson said.

"Such poor performance should give reason for the president to sack the attorney general," he said.

Attorney general from political party is potential to be dragged into political deals, he said.

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