Indonesia: Ex-parliament speaker loses pretrial motion

By Ainur Rohmah

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AA) - A judge in Indonesia on Thursday refused a pretrial motion to absolve former parliamentary speaker, who has been charged in a multi-million graft probe.

On Nov. 10, Setya Novanto was named as a suspect linked with ID-card procurement project for the second time by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Novanto challenged his status through pretrial motion, hoping that the judge would disqualify his status.

But the judge Kusno, who used only one name, refused the pretrial petition as a court in Jakarta charged on Wednesday Novanto with pocketing $7.3 million in kickbacks from a government project to issue new ID cards.

The judge said that the trial of ID cards scam has officially began on Wednesday after Novanto listened to the indictment filed by a prosecutor.

Kusno said that according to Indonesian law, pretrial motion automatically falls if the trial of the main case already began.

Novanto, who was once described as "one of the powerful men and a great man" by U.S. President Donald Trump, is among several senior politicians accused of receiving money from the scheme.

The scandal came to light earlier this year and is estimated to have cost taxpayers around $170 million.

Novanto, 62, had received cash from two businessmen, Irvanto Hendra Pambudi Cahyo and Made Oka Masagung, totaling $7.3 million.

The former speaker, who has faced corruption claims in the past but never been convicted, also allegedly received a $135,000 Richard Mille watch.

He was temporarily forced to step down as house speaker over corruption allegations in 2015 after he was caught seeking shares worth billions of dollars from a U.S. mining company.

Novanto was cleared of charges and returned as speaker, a role he quit again last week.

In its 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index, Transparency International ranked Indonesia 90 out of 176 countries, with the parliament cited as the most corrupt institution in the country.