JakartaPost-July 20, 2026
President Prabowo Subianto has reaffirmed his administration’s zero-tolerance stance on corruption, as public scrutiny intensified over the Attorney General’s Office’s (AGO) decision not to detain its former top prosecutor Febrie Adriansyah despite naming him a suspect in a corruption and money laundering case. Speaking from an event to celebrate this year’s second harvest season in East Java on Friday, Prabowo stressed that public officials must act in the public interest. “We will not tolerate those who have been entrusted by the people and paid by the people yet implement policies that harm the people. Especially those who steal public money, we will not tolerate it,” Prabowo said. The remarks came as the AGO pressed ahead with its investigation into its former assistant attorney general for special crimes Febrie, despite mounting concerns over whether it could prosecute its own top official fairly and objectively. AGO investigators summoned Febrie for the first time on Friday and questioned him for about 11 hours at their headquarters in South Jakarta, where he denied all allegations against him, according to his lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea. Febrie has yet to be detained, unlike another suspect in the case, a lawyer named Don Ritto who has been in AGO’s custody since July 17. Febrie’s legal team cited his willingness to cooperate with investigators as a reason why the AGO did not detain him. The legal counsel also said Febrie’s resignation from his post after the case became public was “to allow the investigation to proceed professionally without interference”.
However, critics said AGO’s decision not to detain Febrie raise serious questions about equality before the law and risks creating the perception that influential figures receive special treatment when facing criminal allegations. “The reluctance to take firm action against a senior law enforcement figure such as Febrie signals a willingness to compromise and risks weakening the prosecution over time,” said Agus Sarwono of Transparency International Indonesia (TII). He added that such a pattern had repeatedly emerged when corruption suspects came from within the country’s power structures. Read more at:
