JAKARTA, July 11 (Reuters) – A top Indonesian prosecutor resigned on Saturday after police conducted a series of raids related to corruption investigations this week, including at his residence, and seized cash amounting to more than $20 million in multiple currencies and 74 kilograms of gold bars.
• Febrie Adriansyah resigned from his position as head prosecutor of special crimes in the Attorney General’s Office to maintain neutrality amid the police investigation, according to a press statement from the AGO released in the early hours of Saturday
• Detectives with the national and Jakarta police raided 12 locations and interviewed 15 witnesses this week, during which they seized the gold bars and cash worth more than $20 million in currencies including Indonesian rupiah, U.S. dollars, Singapore dollars and Saudi riyals, Jakarta police spokesperson Budi Hermanto said in a press conference late on Friday
• Police have not explained their investigation, nor detailed allegations against Febrie, because the investigation remained underway, Budi said.
• Police previously said the raids were part of their corruption and bribery probe related to the management of state insurers Jiwasraya and Asabri, as well as problems with coal procurement for electricity that led to recent power blackouts.
• Addressing the press on Friday morning, before his resignation, Febrie denied wrongdoing and said he did not understand why he was investigated over blackouts.
• Febrie did not respond to a Reuters request for comment after his resignation.
• Febrie had overseen the AGO’s criminal investigations and prosecutions in some high profile cases, including the controversial graft cases against startup Gojek founder Nadiem Makarim and former trade minister turned government critic Thomas Lembong, as well as state energy firm Pertamina’s illegal fuel imports case.
• Febrie was also involved in President Prabowo Subianto’s forestry task force, which has taken over plantations and mines from companies accused of violating forest utilisation rules.
• Up until his resignation, he was overseeing a corruption investigation in the National Nutrition Agency, which runs Prabowo’s free school meals programme.
(Reporting by Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Kim Coghill)
