If you’ve followed the saga of former House Speaker Setya Novanto and his ultimately unsuccessful attempts to avoid prosecution by the Corruption Eradication Committee (KPK) for his role in the massive electronic ID card (e-KTP) graft scandal, you’ll no doubt remember that infamous car accident in November that landed him in the hospital under very suspicious circumstances.
At the time, many people believed that the car crash was engineered as a final ditch effort by Setya to stay out of the KPK’s grasp (remember, he had seemingly disappeared from the face of the Earth shortly before the anti-corruption commission had raided his home for evidence the day before the crash).
Now, the KPK says it has strong evidence that that was in fact the case, and yesterday they officially named both Setya’s lawyer at the time, Fredrich Yunadi, and a doctor that treated Setya at the hospital, Dr. H. Bimanesh Sutarjo, suspects for obstructing the investigation (Fredrich was also slapped with a six-month travel ban earlier in the day in relation to the charges).
KPK Vice Chairperson Basaria Panjaitan said they found evidence that Fredrich had booked a room at Permata Hijau Hospital for Setya on November 16, before the alleged accident in which a car that Setya was a passenger in (supposedly on the way to the KPK headquarters) hit a power pole.
In addition to ordering a VIP room, Fredrich also allegedly made plans to book one entire floor of the hospital for his client and even specified that Setya would be coming to the hospital at around 9pm for treatment.
“Even though it was not specified what illness or injury [Setya] would be treated for,” Basaria said yesterday at her office as quoted by Tempo.
The KPK also says they have evidence that Dr. Bimanesh manipulated medical data to try and justify keeping Setya in inpatient care at Permata Hijau so that he could avoid questioning and detainment by the KPK on humanitarian grounds.
The KPK eventually sent in a team of independent doctors to assess the former House Speaker’s condition and they came to the conclusion that his injuries were minor and that he was fit to face legal prosecution. Setya was officially arrested shortly thereafter.
Basaria said the anti-corruption agency interviewed 35 witnesses and experts (including numerous doctors) before naming Fredrich and Dr. Bimanesh suspects. They could both face sentences of up to 12 years in prison if found guilty of obstructing justice.
During the first day of his corruption trial, Setya tried to claim diarrhea and other medical problems prevented him from participating. This reportedly was greeted by jeers from many in the courtroom.
