Setya Ethics Verdict to Be Handed Down Wednesday
Jakarta. The House of Representatives' Ethics Council will on Wednesday announce its ruling in the tribunal of House Speaker Setya Novanto, who is accused of attempting to shake down miner Freeport Indonesia for $4 billion worth of shares.
At a meeting held Monday night, the Ethics Council agreed to convene on Wednesday to discuss the verdict for announcement later that same day – regardless of the lack of testimony from oilman Muhammad Riza Chalid, who is alleged to have conspired with Setya to get Freeport Indonesia chief executive Maroef Sjamsoeddin to divest a 20 percent stake in the company through the pair.
“After arguing, we have decided that on Wednesday at 1 p.m. we will discuss the verdict,” Junimart Girsang, a deputy chairman of the Ethics Council, said late on Monday.
Setya and Riza are accused of trying to shake down Maroef during a meeting in June this year.
Maroef secretly recorded the conversation, but it was only last month that Sudirman Said, the energy minister, submitted a copy of the recording, along with a transcript, to the House Ethics Council when filing a complaint against Setya.
In exchange, the recording indicates, Setya and Riza promised to speed up the miner’s contract extension negotiations with the government before the 2019 start date, suggesting that chief security minister Luhut Pandjaitan was the linchpin.
Luhut’s name comes up no fewer than 60 times in the recording, including a mention of him meeting with James R. Moffett, the founder and chairman of Arizona-based Freeport-McMoRan, Freeport Indonesia’s parent company.
While denying any link to the scandal, including in his testimony at the ethics tribunal on Monday, Luhut has made no secret of his displeasure at Sudirman for going public with the recording.