Dahlan Iskan’s pretrial motion rejected

JAKARTA. The South Jakarta District Court rejected a pretrial motion filed by former state-owned enterprises minister Dahlan Iskan challenging his suspect status in a graft case.  Judge Made Sutrisna read out the court’s decision in a hearing on Tuesday.

“[...] declare that the objection filed by the plaintiff cannot be accepted and have decided to reject his pretrial motion,” said Made as quoted by kompas.com.  

In its consideration, the court’s panel of judge said the naming of Dahlan as a suspect by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) was in accordance with the law. The judges also concluded that the minimum requirement of two pieces of evidence had been fulfilled. The fulfillment had been stated in a Supreme Court ruling on a cassation request filed by Sarimas Ahmadi Pratama director Dasep Ahmadi, the convict in the case.

“The suspect naming conducted by the defendant [AGO] referred to the court’s ruling on convict Ahmadi, which is valid and legally binding,” said Made.

The AGO named Dahlan a suspect on Jan. 26 in a corruption case revolving around the procurement of 16 electric cars. The 16 cars were used as passenger shuttles during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Bali in 2013.

The AGO also named Ahmadi and Agus Suherman, former partnership and environmental program head at the SOE Ministry, suspects. Ahmadi was later found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prison.

Dahlan has also been named a suspect in another graft case related to the sale of the assets of an East Java province-owned company.