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Yasonna Laoly questions ICW's pressure for his discharge

Source
Tempo - January 30, 2020

Budiarti Utami Putri, Rosseno Aji, Jakarta – Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly questioned the strong demand for his discharge from office, which was expressed by the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW).

The anti-graft watchdog's demand to President Jokowi followed Yasonna's decision to oust immigrations director-general, Ronny Sompie, for failing to detect the arrival of KPK fugitive Harun Masiku who entered the country through the Soekarno-Hatta airport.

"That's their right to speak about the matter, but what [they should be aware of] is that there was no mens rea factor," said Yasonna at the parliament's office in Senayan on Wednesday.

Yasonna claims Ronny was discharged to prevent conflict of interest as he continues on with the independent investigation regarding the immigration's failure to detect Harun Masiku.

As news about Harun Masiku casually passing airport gates went public, immigration initially informed that Harun had left the country since January 6, prior to the arrest of bribery suspect Wahyu Setiawan, which is the case that Harun is incriminated in.

However, Tempo's investigation report found that Harun Masiku had already arrived in Indonesia since January 7. Maintaining their initial statement, immigration insisted on Harun's whereabouts up to January 14.

Immigration finally acknowledged their mistake on January 21 when Harun Masiku's wife claimed she had been informed that Harun was already in Indonesia. This forced immigration to confess upon their mistake but maintained that the confusion was due to a system error.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1301318/yasonna-laoly-questions-icws-pressure-for-his-discharge

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