Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office has no intention of making senior prosecutor Cirus Sinaga a scapegoat to restore its tarnished image, an official says.

"If there is no evidence of a crime, of course we will not prosecute a person," Deputy Attorney General Darmono said on Friday in his response to Cirus' statement of defense, which was read recently at the Jakarta Corruption Court.

Cirus is facing a verdict next week for obstructing justice in his handling of a case against the notorious tax official Gayus H. Tambunan at the Tangerang District Court.

Cirus, in his final statement, said that the AGO had put him on trial because it wanted to save its own image. "There is no benefit in us sacrificing Cirus. Bringing him to court does not make us heroes," Darmono added as quoted by kompas.com. He said that Cirus' claim was merely based on emotion.

Last week, KPK prosecutors demanded that the judges sentence Cirus to six years in prison and order him to pay Rp 150 million (US$16,800) in fines to the state or serve an additional three months in prison.