Jakarta. The Indonesian police on Saturday transferred former senior anti-corruption prosecutor Febrie Adriansyah and his case file to the Attorney General’s Office for prosecution, advancing one of the country’s highest-profile corruption investigations.
Febrie resigned as deputy attorney general for special crimes after police named him a suspect following a series of searches that uncovered 74 kilograms of gold bars and millions of dollars in cash at multiple locations.
The case will now be prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office’s Special Crimes Division — the same unit that Febrie headed before his resignation. He has been replaced on an interim basis by Rudi Margono, who also serves as deputy attorney general for supervision.
“We have formally accepted these cases as part of our commitment to handling them swiftly, professionally, and in coordination with other law enforcement agencies,” Rudi told a press conference.
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“The public expects these cases to be resolved. We will carefully examine all evidence, physical exhibits, and the causal links between them while fully respecting the presumption of innocence,” he said.
National Police Anti-Corruption Corps chief Totok Suharyanto said investigators questioned 15 witnesses and searched 12 locations, including a money changer, the Cafe de Clan Signature restaurant in Jakarta, and a luxury residence in Sentul, West Java.
According to police, the seized cash and gold are suspected proceeds of bribery linked to investigations into coal supplies for state-owned power plants, corruption cases involving state insurers Asabri and Jiwasraya, and debt restructuring at a subsidiary of Krakatau Steel.
“Following a case review, we named two suspects: DR, a private individual suspected of money laundering, and FA (Febrie Adriansyah), the former deputy attorney general for special crimes, on suspicion of corruption and money laundering related to the handling of the Asabri case and other corruption investigations,” Totok said.
Police identified DR as Don Ritto, a lawyer and owner of a private law firm. Investigators allege he was the beneficial owner of Kantor Omzet Indonesia, a company operating a network of money changers.
The case has also drawn scrutiny from the House of Representatives. Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, has established a special team to monitor the prosecution and urged the Attorney General’s Office to appoint an independent team of senior prosecutors with no affiliation to Febrie.
“We ask the Attorney General’s Office to establish an independent investigative team to handle the case involving FA,” Commission III Chairman Habiburokhman said.
Before becoming a suspect, Febrie oversaw many of Indonesia’s largest corruption investigations, including illegal mining, the corruption case involving former communications minister Johnny G. Plate, cases involving state insurers, and the laptop procurement case involving former education minister Nadiem Makarim.
A day before resigning, Febrie defended his record in fighting corruption but declined to answer questions about the cash and gold seized during the investigation or whether he intended to step down. Instead, he urged the media not to speculate about the evidence collected by police.
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