Jakarta, Legal Literacy - Jovi Andrea Bachtiar, a prosecutor, requested the Constitutional Court to reinforce the authority of prosecutors in investigating certain criminal acts by including it in the Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP), along with the police and civil servant investigators (PPNS). The aim is to reduce legal uncertainty in law enforcement by the Prosecutor's Office.
According to Jovi, a multiagency approach in criminal investigation, including corruption, has become a global trend. He mentioned that a number of countries have granted investigation authority to prosecutors.
The Authority of Prosecutors to Conduct Corruption Investigations is Not Yet Regulated in the Criminal Procedure Code
In the preliminary examination hearing for the judicial review of Law Number 8 of 1981 concerning the Criminal Procedure Code, Jovi is testing several articles as well as Article 45 Paragraph (1) Law 30/2022 regarding the Corruption Eradication Commission. He emphasized that although the authority of prosecutors to investigate is regulated in several laws, the Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP) has not accommodated this.
Jovi hopes that the Constitutional Court can clarify the authority of prosecutors in investigating certain criminal acts, especially corruption, in the Criminal Procedure Code and the KPK Law to provide legal certainty in the conception of the rule of law. He also reminded that the Attorney General's Office has successfully handled many corruption cases in recent years.
Mentioning data from Indonesia Corruption Watch, Jovi noted that the Attorney General's Office of the Republic of Indonesia has handled a large number of corruption cases with significant state losses. He also compared the performance of the Attorney General's Office with the Corruption Eradication Commission in handling corruption cases.
During the application revision hearing, Nawa Syarief added that several countries also grant investigative authority to the prosecutor's office, including the United States, Germany, France, Brazil, Sweden, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
Legal Politics of Corruption Investigation Authority by Prosecutors
The legal political reasons behind granting investigative authority to the Attorney General's Office were also highlighted by the applicant. They argued that this could strengthen the mechanism of checks and balances in handling corruption cases.
Regarding the application, the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Suhartoyo, promised to discuss it in a judge's deliberation meeting to determine whether the norm testing in the Criminal Procedure Code and the KPK Law will be continued. The applicant was asked to await the official decision from the Constitutional Court.
It should be noted that the Constitutional Court had previously rejected a similar application in January 2023 because it was considered to create legal uncertainty and eliminate the function of checks and balances in handling cases.
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