IO – Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat – “DPR”) of RI Sufmi Dasco Ahmad has revealed that DPR RI Commission III is pursuing the rumor that documents pertaining to a number of highly sensitive cases were burnt in the recent fire at the Attorney General’s Office in South Jakarta on Saturday (22/08/2020) night. This investigation is necessary to confirm the condition of these case files. “We need to investigate to ensure whether the files are safe or lost, in order to maintain the propriety of law enforcement forces in the Attorney General’s Office,” he said at the Parliamentary Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, on Monday (24/08/2020).
Dasco regrets the fact that the fire prevention system at the Attorney General’s Office failed to function, causing the fire to burn out of control and destroy the building. However, he asks the public to refrain from prejudice and to allow authorized law enforcers to investigate the fire formally. “Let’s refrain from making quick judgments and allow the law to discover the causes of the fire, as is proper,” he said.
Head of the General Attorney Office’s Law Information Center (Pusat Penerangan Hukum – “Kapuspenkum”) Hari Setiono stated that the fire started in the work area of the HR Bureau. Therefore, it did not harm any file from any corruption cases being investigated by the Attorney General. “Those are all HR data from several Bureaus relating to guidance. There are no case files in there, whether related to special or general corruption,” he said on Saturday (22/08/2020).
Similarly, Coordinating Minister of Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Mahfud M. D. guaranteed that files pertaining to the cases of Djoko Tjandra, Jiwasraya, and any other major cases at the Attorney General Office are 100% secured from damage. For the purpose of investigating the fire, Mahfud stated that he has established a joint team whose members include personnel from the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Bureau and the Attorney General Office’s Junior Attorney Generals in charge of General Crimes (Jaksa Agung Muda Pidana Umum – “Jampidum”).
Separately, Head of the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Bureau, Police Commissioner General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, explained that the National Police has mobilized a team from its Forensic Laboratory Center (Pusat Laboratorium Forensik – “Puslabfor”) to discover the origins of the great fire. He promises that investigation of this incident will be held professionally and transparently. Furthermore, a joint command post for the investigation and detection of the causes of the fire has been established. The command post will start the investigation by collecting and interrogating witnesses, and will send the Puslabfor Team for a more in-depth investigation of the fire. “Therefore, I request that the people do not speculate further about the incident. Hopefully we can discover everything soon,” he said. (dan)