Jakarta – Recently, the name Firli Bahuri has become increasingly famous in this Republic. This retired Polri with the final rank of three stars, aka Komisaris Jenderal, currently holds the status of a suspect while still serving as Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
The domino effect of this status meant that he had to be willing and willing to be temporarily dismissed as Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission. The legality of this temporary dismissal is neatly wrapped up in a Presidential Decree signed by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi). As a replacement, the President then appoints Deputy Chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission Nawawi Pomolango as a replacement.
The determination of Firli as a suspect was carried out by investigators from the Special Criminal Investigation Directorate (Ditreskrimsus) Polda Metro Jaya. His status as a suspect was determined after he underwent an investigation into the extortion and gratification case against the former Minister of Agriculture who is also a Nasdem Party politician, Syahrul Yasin Limpo (SYL).
At this point, his ego as a former Police Jenderal emerged. He did not accept being made a suspect by his juniors in the police. His reaction against being named a suspect was also shown.
Through his attorney, Ian Iskandar, he filed a pretrial lawsuit against Irjen Pol Karyoto as the top leader of Polda Metro Jaya, the institution that made him a suspect.
Firli, through Ian, stated that the Polda Metro Jaya named him a suspect without going through the investigation process but went straight to investigation. Firli also accused Kapolda Metro Jaya Irjen Pol Karyoto of being the mastermind behind naming him as a suspect.
“That’s the factual situation. We don’t do it. Later we will officially open it in court, we will read the application. “It’s like that,” said Ian last Monday, (27/11).
He promised to reveal the process of determining Firli as a suspect in a pre-trial hearing at the South Jakarta District Court (PN Jaksel) which began on December 11 2023.
“Starting from the initial process until Mr. Firli was named a suspect. Let the public know,” he explained.
He also said that if you look carefully at the process of determining Firli as a suspect there were also irregularities. The irregularity, continued Ian, was because it was known that the Firli case report model was a type A report.
Type A reports are reports made by police officers who directly experience, know or discover the incident that occurred.
“So it is clear that the report was not made by SYL but by a member of the police who made a public complaint (dumas). And the report was made based on input and instructions from the Kapolda Metro Jaya. We put this in the pre-trial file,” emphasized Ian.
Legally and logically, Firli’s reaction in filing a pretrial lawsuit against the Kapolda Metro Jaya Irjen Pol Karyoto, was legitimate. Moreover, this was done to maintain his credibility and integrity as head of an anti-corruption agency and a retired three-star police general.
And one more thing, there is also a strong opinion that emerged which stated that Firli’s courage in pre-trialing Kapolda Metro Jaya Irjen Pol Karyoto was because they were both classmates at the Dhira Brata Battalion of the 1990 Police Academy.
It could be a different story for Firli if the commander of Polda Metro Jaya is still held by Komjen Pol Gatot Eddy or Jenderal Pol Idham Azis, who incidentally is his senior at the Police Academy.
Offside
Legally, pretrial itself is regulated in Law Number 8 of 1981 concerning Criminal Procedure Law (KUHAP) and has undergone several changes. Article 77 of the Criminal Procedure Code regulates pre-trial, which gives a person the right to submit a request to the court to be examined whether the investigation or prosecution against him has fulfilled the formal and material requirements and whether there has been sufficient evidence of a criminal act.
Apart from that, Article 78 of the Criminal Procedure Code also explains that pretrial applications can be submitted by suspects, defendants, or people who feel their rights have been violated as a result of the actions of investigators or public prosecutors.
And here, Firli feels that his rights have been violated, aka being offside because of the actions of Polda Metro Jaya investigators, who in his version have made him a suspect without an investigation process.
Ian Iskandar’s statement mentioning the oddity of naming Firli as a suspect without an investigation process in the pretrial files is also valid. That is Firli Bahuri’s right as a citizen in a legal process. But as the suspect’s attorney, Ian should also never forget the words of Article 184 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The problem is, in this article it is emphasized that a person can only be named a suspect if there is a minimum of 2 (two) pieces of evidence and they have previously been examined as a potential suspect/witness. Meanwhile, the evidence in question is witness statements, expert statements, letters, or instructions.
And de facto, Firli Bahuri has also gone through this process at the Bareskrim Polri before being named a suspect.
Because of all this, Irjen Pol Karyoto was calm when asked for his response regarding Firli Bahuri’s pretrial lawsuit.
“Yes, that’s his right after being named a suspect. And that’s fine,” said Kapolda Karyoto casually to journalists at the Indonesia Arena, Jakarta, Saturday, (25/11).
Even so, he also firmly said that as an institution, Polda Metro Jaya was ready and not afraid to face Firli Bahuri’s pretrial lawsuit.
“Organizationally we are all complete. So come on, let’s play,” he said.
Investigation Director Bypassed
After discussing the chances and chances of a pre-trial duel between Komjen Pol (Purn) Firli Bahuri versus Irjen Pol Karyoto, now let’s move on to the issue of alleged corruption at the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan).
On Monday, November 27 2023, the Deputy Chair of the Corruption Eradication Commission, Alexander Marwata, held a press conference and conveyed the news that the handling of the case at the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) had actually stalled for up to 3 years.
Alex – as he is familiarly called, the case in question is a case of alleged extortion at the Ministry of Agriculture with the suspect being the former Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) SYL.
The case in question began with a public complaint report (dumas) in 2020. In the same year, he explained, the leadership had given a disposition for the report to be followed up at the investigation stage.
However, Alex said that this disposition was never followed up with the issuance of an investigation warrant (sprinlidik) by the Deputy for Enforcement.
“We were completely blank, we didn’t know that in 2020 there would be a public report,” he said.
During its journey, the investigation into the SYL case was published in early 2023. The Nasdem politician was also questioned at the investigation stage around June 2023.
At the time of the examination, the Deputy for Corruption Eradication of the Corruption Eradication Committee was led by Plt. Deputy for Enforcement, namely Director of Investigation Asep Guntur. Previously, from 2020 to around March 2023, the Deputy for Enforcement was held by Irjen Pol Karyoto before being appointed as the Kapolda Metro Jaya until now.
At this point, Alex’s statement was not just enough to be heard. All the information he conveyed was based on the KPK data base. Even so, there is one question that seems quite intriguing to all of Alex’s statements.
He said there was a public complaint (dumas) in 2020 and the leadership had given a disposition for the report to be followed up at the investigation stage.
However, Alex said, this disposition was never followed up with the issuance of an investigation warrant (sprinlidik) by the Deputy for Enforcement.
This is a statement that honestly makes you confused if you listen carefully. Is the inspection report mandatory for the Deputy for Enforcement? In fact, at the Corruption Eradication Commission there is a Director of Investigation led by a one-star police general.
Does this mean that the Director of Investigations is bypassed and is not involved in handling incoming cases?
But Alex, who at the press conference at that time looked very confident, did not hesitate to make a statement. He said that the leadership’s disposition for the Ministry of Agriculture case report in 2020 was not followed up directly by the Deputy for Enforcement, who at that time was Irjen Pol Karyoto, at the investigation stage.
This case was only raised to investigation in 2023. SYL was also questioned at the investigation stage around June 2023. And in September 2023, the Corruption Eradication Committee officially raised the Ministry of Agriculture case to the investigation stage and named SYL as a suspect in the case.
Irjen Pol Karyoto himself seemed reluctant to respond when topikonline.co.id confirmed Alexander Marwata’s statement. He just said that in 2021 the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak was going crazy. Almost all institutions and agencies, both government and private, have had their performance disrupted and implemented work from home (WFH).
“In 2021 Covid-19 is in full swing. There are many fatalities. This force majeure has a significant impact on the performance of people at all levels, including at the Corruption Eradication Commission. This is something that seems to be forgotten and not stated,” said Irjen Pol Karyoto in his office, Thursday, (30/11).
“It’s up to people what they want to say. I’m just relaxed because I feel and realize that I didn’t make any mistakes while serving at the KPK,” he continued with a smile.
Truth belongs only to Allah SWT
For your information, it has now been revealed that the case of extortion by SYL is not the only case that is suspected to have occurred in the Ministry of Agriculture. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) confirmed that it is also investigating two other cases at the ministry, namely the cattle procurement and horticulture cases.
Previously, Firli Bahuri also mentioned the stalled case at the Ministry of Agriculture. He revealed this before officially holding the status of a suspect in the alleged extortion case against SYL.
At that time, Firli openly indicated that the leadership had not known about the follow-up to the Dumas report in 2020 since Irjen Pol Karyoto’s era as Deputy for Enforcement.
“Until January 16 2023, no SYL cases had come to the leadership, even though one was conveyed in the Dumas by the Deputy for Enforcement. At that time, the Deputy for Enforcement was the current Kapolda Polda Metro Jaya. That’s what we need to ask,” said Firli at a press conference, Tuesday, ( 11/14) ago.
Firli Bahuri also dared to suggest that Inspector General Pol Karyoto ignored public complaints at the KPK when he was Deputy for Enforcement and Execution.
The suppressed complaint, said Firli, was related to alleged irregularities in cattle procurement at the Ministry of Agriculture when SYL led it.
The suppressed complaint, said Firli, was related to alleged irregularities in cattle procurement at the Ministry of Agriculture when SYL led it.
This was conveyed by Firli when answering questions regarding the news of the alleged fraud case in cattle procurement at the Ministry of Agriculture. Firli initially explained the chronology of the investigation into the SYL extortion case at the Ministry of Agriculture until he was named a suspect.
“I want to convey that the SYL case we are handling now is based on allegations of criminal acts of corruption submitted by members of the public to the Corruption Eradication Commission in November 2022,” he said.
“Furthermore, a review was carried out and an investigation warrant was issued regarding the official note of the Deputy for Enforcement on January 16 2023 regarding alleged criminal acts of corruption in the form of receiving gifts or promises by state officials in 2019-2023,” he continued.
Firli said that the case was then exposed on July 13 2023. As a result, Firli continued, the KPK raised the status of the case to investigation level.
“The investigation order was issued on September 26 2023, which was submitted some time ago regarding Brother SYL,” explained Firli.
Firli then said that there had been public complaints regarding another case which allegedly involved SYL. This, he said, was revealed through correspondence records received by the KPK.
“From correspondence records, there is a case of alleged misuse of cattle procurement that was received by Dumas around January 2021,” said Firli.
However, said Firli, the KPK leadership did not know about the case because there was no report submitted by Irjen Pol Karyoto, who at that time served as Deputy for Enforcement and Execution of the KPK.
The question returns again, where and what is the role of the Corruption Eradication Committee Investigation Director in this case? Why does it seem like the KPK leadership was bypassing it directly to Irjen Pol Karyoto in his capacity as Deputy for Enforcement at that time.
Yes, no one is perfect. And in the Islamic perspective, truth and honesty only come from God. Alhaqqu mirrabik. Truth belongs only to Allah SWT as stated clearly in Surah Al-Baqarah verses 144-147.
So it is clear, for Firli Bahuri, who is now a suspect in an extortion case, he now considers everything that happened to him to be the biggest test before Allah SWT. As also stated in his words in Surah Al Baqarah verse 286, “Allah does not burden a person except according to his ability. He gets the reward (from the good deeds) he does and he gets the punishment (from the bad deeds) he does”. Bembo
