Jakarta – PT Freeport Indonesia president director Maroef Sjamsoeddin decided to record a conversation with House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto and oil and gas businessman Muhammad Riza Chalid after becoming suspicious about the planned subject of discussion, according to a minister.
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said said on Wednesday that it was Maroef himself who had decided to record the meeting, his third with Setya and Riza.
"[Maroef] told me, 'I took the decision to tape the third meeting because by that point it was clear to me that there were aspects that required protection'", Sudirman said as quoted by kompas.com.
Sudirman was speaking during the first House ethics council hearing into allegations that Setya falsely reported that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla had asked for shares in return for helping mining giant Freeport secure a contract extension from the government.
Akbar Faisal, an ethics council member from the NasDem Party, asked Sudirman to elaborate on Maroef's suspicions. "I suggest you ask [Maroef]," replied the minister.
Sudirman further explained that Maroef was in the habit of reporting any updates to him, as ordered by the President, so as to prevent any intervention on the issue of the mooted extension to Freeport's mining contract.
Maroef gave the recording to Sudirman in early October, the latter subsequently reporting Setya to the ethics council last month for allegedly invoking Jokowi and Kalla's names, without their approval, to ask for shares in Freeport and to suggest cooperation on a power plant project.
Asked by Akbar his motivation for bringing the case to the ethics council, the energy minister replied that he had felt it was unethical for a state official to use his position for personal gain, adding that Setya's alleged actions had "debased the dignity of the state".
"This is my personal judgment as a minister. If the leader of a state institution did indeed employ the names of the President and Vice President, which are symbols of the state, then he has befouled and degraded the integrity of the state," he said.
The case has attracted public outrage, with mounting calls for Setya, a member of the Golkar Party, to step down. (rin)