House Speaker and Graft Suspect Setya Novanto Put on Police Wanted List
Jakarta. The national antigraft agency requested on Thursday (16/11) that police put graft suspect and House of Representatives speaker Setya Novanto on a wanted list, a spokesman said.
The move comes amid what appeared to be attempts by Setya to avoid arrest in a probe into massive graft surrounding the procurement of national electronic identity cards, known as e-KTP.
The lawmaker was reportedly involved in a car crash and was immediately rushed to hospital late on Thursday, just a day after investigators arrived at his home in South Jakarta with a warrant for arrest. His whereabouts at that time were unknown.
On Wednesday, Setya also skipped Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) questioning but appeared at a House plenary meeting earlier in the day.
Investigators, based on those events, decided late on Thursday not to wait any longer for Setya to turn himself in, KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah said.
"We didn't see his arrival until this evening [...] we finally decided to send a letter to police and Interpol [...] and put his name on a wanted list," Febri told reporters at his office in South Jakarta.
Setya was reportedly unconscious after the crash. A team of KPK investigators immediately went to the hospital to look into the incident, Febri said.
"Whether it really happened and caused him not to be able to face questioning, this needs to be checked further [...] We also have to see if the car was heading to the KPK office as reported."
Setya has skipped most KPK questioning sessions as a suspect as well as a witness in the graft case, and repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
He was renamed a suspect last week in the case surrounding the Rp 5.9 trillion ($436 million) project that caused the state to lose Rp 2.3 trillion.
Setya stands accused of allegedly receiving Rp 574 billion from the project and could face up to 20 years in jail if found guilty.
The Golkar party chairman was first named a suspect in the case in July but was acquitted of graft charges in a verdict two months later after filing a pretrial motion with the South Jakarta District Court.
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