Judge Broadens Pretrial Hearing Authority

Over the past few weeks, public attention has been focused on the pretrial hearing submitted by Police Commissioner General Budi Gunawan (“Applicant”) against the Corruption Eradication Commission (“Respondent”).

These proceedings have became headlines in many mass media publications, and reached a pinnacle when Judge Saprin Rizaldi (“Judge”) rendered Decision No. 04/PIT.PRAP/2015/PN Jakarta Selatan (“Decision”) on 16 February 2015, ruling on the pretrial request from the Applicant.

In essence, the Judge found in favor of the Applicant and declared the Respondent had wrongly named the Applicant as a suspect in an alleged graft case in 2004. Moreover, the Judge also found the Respondent does not have authority to investigate the case.[1]