Where in the world is House Speaker Setya Novanto? That is the IDR2.3 trillion (US$170 million) question, and one that is set to dominate headlines around Indonesia until he is found after Novanto disappeared last night shortly before he was set to be arrested on corruption charges.
The e-KTP (electronic ID cards) procurement corruption case, which the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) says stole the aforementioned gargantuan sum of money from the government through graft, is a long and convoluted one. So here’s a refresher on Novanto’s involvement:
In March, the KPK named dozens of high profile politicians suspected of involvement in the e-KTP graft case, with Novanto being the biggest name of them all. After dodging questioning by the KPK for various reasons (including being admitted to hospital, a photo from which has been famously satirized in memes and led to the arrest of one memester), Novanto controversially won a pretrial motion to clear his suspect status in the case.
Undeterred, the KPK once again named Novanto a suspect in the case using new evidence last Friday. After Novanto once again dodged summons by the KPK for questioning (including their last summons yesterday), the commission’s investigators, armed with arrest and search warrants, raided the Golkar politician’s home in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta for five hours last night.
While the investigators came out with several suitcases of evidence from the search, one key element was missing — Novanto himself.
Novanto reportedly wasn’t at home when KPK’s investigators arrived. In fact, since Novanto was last seen at a meeting in parliament yesterday morning, he has not been been spotted in public. The people closest to him, including his wife, who was at home during KPK’s search, claim they haven’t seen him either.
Novanto’s lawyer, Fredrich Yunadi, says he doesn’t know where his client is but believes he’s still in Jakarta.
“I’m 100% certain he (Novanto) is in Jakarta. He is not a coward, but he’s not willing to get raped,” Yunadi told reporters in response to public’s suspicions that Novanto decided to flee to escape arrest by the KPK, as quoted by Detik.
Yunadi had previously justified his client’s latests attempts to resist questioning by asserting that immunity laws meant that the KPK had to get permission from the president to question a DPR member (which is almost certainly not the case).
In reference to his client’s disappearance, Yunadi said that Novanto’s personal aide had said that the house speaker had been picked up from home by an unidentified “guest” at around 6pm yesterday (it’s pretty odd that Novanto’s assistants wouldn’t keep a record of their boss’ guests, considering his political standing, but we digress…).
So, what’s next in this game of cat and mouse? The National Police say they are going to support the KPK’s search for Novanto, while the government, through the Vice President’s Office, has urged Novanto to turn himself in to avoid officially being named a fugitive.
Can Novanto escape the charges against him this time, as he has managed to do so many times before? Will we see him take the route of a certain firebrand cleric and become a fugitive overseas? Perhaps his buddy, Trump, will be happy to harbor him.
