Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – The guilty verdict for businessman Anggodo Widjojo should lead prosecutors to drop charges of extortion leveled against two deputy leaders of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), legal experts said Wednesday.
Senior lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis urged the Attorney General's Office to immediately stop all legal proceedings implicating KPK deputy chairmen Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah.
The conviction of Anggodo, he said, "means there is no legal foundation" for the extortion charges currently leveled against the pair. "The case is now closed," he told The Jakarta Post.
A legal expert from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Edward OS Hariej, said the charges "are automatically disproved".
Constitutional Court judge Akil Mochtar previously said Anggodo's trial for attempted bribery could not be separated from the extortion case involving Bibit and Chandra.
"The police accused Bibit and Chandra of having extorted Anggodo, while the KPK said it was Anggodo who tried to bribe the KPK leaders. It's impossible for both cases to go to trial and all defendants be proven guilty," Akil said in June.
The Corruption Court on Tuesday sentenced Anggodo to four years imprisonment after finding him guilty of attempting to bribe Bibit and Chandra. Anggodo was also ordered to pay a Rp-150-million (US$17,000) fine or serve another three months in jail.
The court, however, cleared him of the second charge of obstruction of justice by seeking to halt the KPK investigation into his fugitive brother Anggoro Widjojo, a graft suspect who fled the country in 2008.
The KPK said Wednesday it would appeal the verdict. "We are preparing the materials [for the appeal]. We have seven days to prepare for it," KPK director for persecution Feri Wibisono was quoted as saying.
He added that prosecutors in the case were convinced Anggodo had indeed obstructed justice.
In their indictment, prosecutors said Anggodo had made reports of fictitious attempts at blackmail by Bibit and Chandra and created a case-handling guide for Ary Muladi's testimony in the two KPK leaders' case files. The alleged actions led to the suspension of both Bibit and Chandra from the antigraft body. The National Police charged them with extortion in September last year.
The incrimination sparked public outrage. Many saw the move made by the police as an attempt to further weaken the KPK after the implication of its chairman, Antasari Azhar, in a murder case in mid 2009. Following the outrage, the AGO decided to drop the case, citing "sociological reasons".
But the Jakarta High Court said it could not accept such reasoning and ordered the AGO to proceed with the case. The latter has appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court.
The KPK has urged the Supreme Court to take into account the Corruption Court's guilty verdict against Anggodo in its ruling.
Todung said the Supreme Court still needs to rule on the appeal lodged by the AGO. He was quick to add that the court's decision should be based on the conviction of Anggodo.
The National Police, however, has maintained that Anggodo's verdict should not have any influence on the Supreme Court's ruling on the appeal.