Indonesian National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian inspects the troops during a security show of force ahead of Christmas and New Year celebrations in Jakarta, Dec. 22, 2016. (Photo: AP/Dita Alangkara)
National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian finally met President Joko Widodo at the Presidential Palace Complex, Monday, to talk about an acid attack against Corruption Eradication Commissions (KPK) investigator Novel Baswedan.
After the private meeting, Tito held a press conference.
"He [Jokowi] gave an instruction [for the police] to solve [Novel's case] as soon as possible," he said.
Tito asserted that the police had been conducting a series of investigation to bring the case to light.
"The principle is [to solve the case] as soon as possible, but sometimes there are obstacles on the way," said Tito.
According to Tito, the police have heard testimonies from 59 witnesses and detained five people. They have also checked around fifty cctv recordings and visited around 100 chemical stores. However, the police has yet to manage to get a clear image of the perpetrator.
Tito claimed to have found an important witness who saw what happened five minutes before the incident. He saw someone standing near the mosque, a suspicious person. He predicted that it was the one who rode the attacker motorcycle, he said.
From the testimony, the police have published a sketch of the suspect.
Kapolri Jenderal Polisi Drs. H. M. Tito Karnavian, M.A., Ph.D., menerbitkan sketsa wajah penyerangan Novel Baswedan, (Senin,31/07/2017). pic.twitter.com/LvOIpvTBoN
Polsek Singojuruh (@PolsekSingojur1) August 1, 2017
Regarding the urge from the President and public to form a fact-finding team, Tito confirmed there has been a team formed by the police to speed up the investigation, and an additional fact-finding team would probably not be needed.
"I think we should trust the KPK, because they're quite credible. [But] if an independent joint team is formed for example, it'll [only] find a fact, not doing an investigation. Finding facts is different to [performing] investigation," said Tito.
An investigation allows the police to carry out a in-depth process which leads them to discover raw data. An investigation team even had the authority to conduct an IT analysis to uncover the case, according to Tito.
Tito admitted the police's performance in investigating Novel's case has been seen as not credible. Thus, he asked the public to entrust the case to the police and also the team from KPK which he mentioned later to be more conceivable.
Tito then confirmed his agenda to meet the KPK leaders this week. The meeting is scheduled to discuss the probe for Novel in Singapore.
Novel Baswedan is a senior KPK investigator who has been dealing with several high-profile cases including Hambalang case,driving simulator procurement project and the latest e-KTP graft.
Novel was attacked by unidentified person using a liquid which later was identified as sulfuric acid last April. Novel suffers burn to his face and was flown to Singapore for medical treatment for injury to his eyes.
(brl/red)
