KPK Pressured to Immediate Arrest of PDIP‘s Secretary Hasto Kristiyanto
Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has been pressed to immediately arrest Secretary General of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), Hasto Kristiyanto, amidst allegations of bribery involving former KPU commissioner Wahyu Setiawan regarding the replacement of House of Representatives (DPR) members.
Masyarakat Anti-Korupsi Indonesia (MAKI) coordinator, Boyamin Saiman, has urged the KPK to swiftly hand over Hasto to the court, emphasizing the need to prevent the case from becoming politicized. "If not, this case could lead to various kinds of polemics," he said.
Boyamin explained that the transfer to the court should be preceded by an investigation and detention. Ideally, he explained, corruption suspects handled by the KPK are always detained.
"It’s clear that now Harun Masiku and Hasto are considered contributions for the bribe money, and Hasto is also accused of obstructing the investigation by allegedly ordering his phone to be submerged and fleeing," Boyamin said.
Meanwhile, earlier, pressure also came from the Center for Anti-Corruption Studies (Pukat) researcher at Gadjah Mada University, Zaenur Rohman. He suggested that KPK could immediately detain Hasto as a precaution due to Harun Masiku’s status as a fugitive.
"The decision to detain him or not depends on the needs and evaluation of the investigators. Given that Harun Masiku has fled and is still at large, investigators could anticipate such events from happening again," Zaenur explained.
KPK had previously designated Hasto Kristiyanto as a suspect. Hasto is suspected of involvement in bribery targeting former KPU commissioner Wahyu Setiawan in an attempt to replace the DPR member Harun Masiku through the Parallel Assignment (PAW) method.
KPK chairperson Setyo Budiyanto revealed that Hasto had tried to make Harun Masiku a DPR member through PAW. He also said that Hasto had asked the MA to issue a fatwa and worked to replace Riezky Aprilia, who was originally supposed to enter the DPR through PAW, with Harun Masiku.
Until now, Harun Masiku remains at large.
