Ezra Sihite – Although the members of the House of Representatives Ethics Council have found four lawmakers guilty of violating the House's code of ethics, the council said that none of them will receive the harshest sanction.
The council (BK) chairman Muhammad Prakosa said that after several clarifications and confrontations, the BK concluded that the lawmakers would be slapped with mild to medium sanctions.
"Four people had been concluded to have violated the code of ethics, three people were not found guilty and three people were wrongly identified in Pak Dahlan Iskan's report," Prakosa said at the legislative building on Thursday.
Prakosa said that the guilty lawmakers were from different political parties but declined to disclose their identities or initials.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician said that based on the mechanism, the BK has to convey its conclusion to the lawmakers in question, their respective parties and House leaders before they can announce their names to the public.
"None of them are categorized to have severely [violated the code of ethics]. The sanctions will be announced after we conveyed our decision to the lawmakers and their parties," he said.
He added that the mild sanction could come in the form of a written or verbal warning, while those slapped with medium sanctions could be dismissed from their positions in the House.
BK drew the conclusion on Wednesday night after a series of verifications and ethics trials that went on for almost a month, following up State Owned Enterprise Minister Dahlan Iskan's report.
Dahlan had reported 10 names for allegedly trying to extort several state enterprises but later withdrew some names and replaced them with others. Dahlan said that he filed the report to BK based on information from several SOE directors.
The lawmakers who got dragged into Dahlan's report were Sumaryoto and I Gusti Agung Rai Wirajaya of PDI-P; Idris Laena of Golkar Party; Achsanul Qosasi, Linda Megawati, Saidi Butar-Butar and Andi Timo Pangerang of the Democratic Party; Zulkieflimansyah of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS); and Muhammad Hatta and M. Ichlas El Qudsi of the National Mandate Party (PAN).
Dahlan and Merpati Nusantara Airlines president director Rudy Setyopurnomo later removed Hatta, Andi Timo and El Qudsi from the list of lawmakers accused of extortion.
BK had confronted Sumaryoto and Idris with SOE directors separately, indicating that they had violated the code.
BK learned during the verification process that Zulkflimansyah was the one who led the meeting and Democrat Achsanul was the one who did the talking while Saidi, Linda and Agung were passive participants.