The Attorney General's Office (AGO) reacted to graft suspect Gayus H. Tambunan's testimony during Wednesday’s hearing that he gave at least US$500,000 to the deputy attorney general for general crimes.
"The attorney general, Basrief Arief, responded greatly to the words [of Gayus], and today has ordered the supervisory deputy attorney general to follow up on Gayus' court testimony to check the truth of the information," a statement released Thursday by the AGO said.
Gayus testified that his former lawyer, Haposan Hutagalung, once told him to give money to the "new deputy attorney general", after Gayus told him that he had paid $500,000 to the old one, Abdul Hakim Ritonga.
The new deputy referred to quite possibly is another former deputy, Kamal Sofyan Nasution.
Haposan was then handling Gayus' money laundering and embezzlement case. Gayus was freed of the charges in the case.
According to AGO spokesperson Babul Khoir Harahap, Ritonga currently teaches in the office's training center.
"He's not hiding," Babul said.
