House Speaker Setya Novanto
The Setya Novanto scandal deepened yesterday after the house speaker categorically denied trying to extort billions of dollar worth of shares from mining company Freeport McMoRan during a suspiciously closed session of the House’s Ethics Council. President Joko Widodo, whose name Setya supposedly invoked in asking for the shares, was reportedly quite upset that session was closed to the public.
It now looks like Jokowi’s anger might lead him to take drastic action, as a member of the Ethics Council, NasDem Party politician Faisal Akbar, has claimed that the president as well as Vice President Jusuf Kalla (whose name Setya also supposedly invoked while asking for the shares) would be reporting the house speaker to the police for attempting to use their names to enable corruption.
“I heard that the president and vice president will report [Setya] to the police for trying to profit off of their names,” Akbar Faisal said when contacted via SMS today Tuesday, according to CNN Indonesia.
Akbar did not reveal exactly where he got the information, but he did say he would fully support Jokowi and JK’s action if they did report Setya.
The Ethics Council’s investigation of Setya began after Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said said that the house speaker had lied by claiming to act on behalf of President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla’s in order to secure shares from gold and copper miner PT Freeport Indonesia during a contract re-negotiation with the US-based company in June.
Sudirman was in possession of a recording of the meeting that Setya claims was made illegally. Setya continues to deny asking for the shares or using the president and vice president’s names as part of an extortion scheme.
Reader Interactions