Tama Salim, Jakarta – The House of Representatives' Commission III overseeing legal affairs plans to set up a working committee with the objective of "assisting" Attorney General Office (AGO) prosecutors in their investigation of the high-profile Freeport conspiracy case.

Commission III member Bambang Soesatyo said the formation of the working committee was to help House speaker Setya Novanto deal with the AGO probe into his alleged attempt to secure shares in a backroom deal with Freeport executives.

"It is a gesture of solidarity from lawmakers," Bambang said at the House complex on Thursday.

The Golkar lawmaker also maintained that the working committee would be able to work objectively in helping the AGO resolve the case.

"Part of a working committee's job description is investigating, so we might also be able to provide the AGO with more material for their case," he added.

Meanwhile, fellow lawmaker Ruhut Sitompul of the Democratic Party, rejected the proposal for the establishment of the working committee, saying that it was unnecessary. "I'd say they are defending Novanto," he told reporters on Thursday. "We still have other work to do, such as working on legislation."

When asked about the stance of fellow Democratic Party lawmaker deputy chairman of Commission III, Benny K. Harman, who backed the proposal, Ruhut replied: "Benny can say whatever he likes."

House Commission III announced its plan to set up the working committee following a meeting on Wednesday that Attorney General HM Prasetyo also attended.

Concluding the meeting, Commission III chairman Azis Syamsuddin decided to include the proposal for the working committee as a footnote, despite protest from National Mandate Party (PAN) lawmaker Taufiqulhadi.

Azis ignored the objections, arguing that the proposal did not require the approval of all commission members. Earlier in the meeting, lawmakers lambasted the AGO for its slow work in handling the case.

Apart from members of the House ethics council, some of whom also hold positions in the legal affairs commission, many lawmakers have claimed that the AGO's involvement in the Freeport case was politically motivated.

Prasetyo defended how his prosecutors were handling the case, saying that the agency only acted on legal facts and evidence. Responding to the working committee plan, Prasetyo expressed his concerns that the committee would only get in the way of legal proceedings.

"I am worried that by forming a working committee an honorable institution such as the House will be seen as intervening with the work of law enforcement agencies," Prasetyo said after the meeting with lawmakers late on Wednesday.

Prasetyo said that the political process to deal with the involvement of the former House speaker in the alleged conspiracy should have ended with the conclusion of his hearing at the ethics council, and that it was up to his office to settle the case through legal means.

"Law enforcement doesn't require such [excessive] monitoring; that will naturally occur during the trial," he told reporters.

Allegations of conspiracy emerged following a taped conversation between Setya, oil import kingpin Muhammad Reza Chalid and former Freeport Indonesia president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin. In a taped conversation Setya can allegedly be heard asking for shares from the firm in return for his help securing an extension of the company's contract of work.

Maroef provided the recording to Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said, who subsequently reported Setya to the ethics council, eventually forcing Setya to resign from his position as House speaker.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/01/22/house-set-freeport-case-committee.html