Public Prosecutor Cirus Sinaga Detained

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Police have officially detained Cirus Sinaga, a public prosecutor allegedly involved in a tax mafia and forgery of the charge sheet for former tax fraud convict Gayus Tambunan.

The police issued the detention order for Cirus Sinaga on Saturday. The detention was done after investigators considered his arrest period had expired.

"The investigation has not finished. So the arrest warrant was changed into detention and the letter for it has been signed," Cirus’ lawyer Parlindungan Sinaga said after signing the detention letter at the police crime intelligence agency here on Saturday.

He said the detention was done after the police took Cirus to his rented house in Petukangan, South Jakarta, to take some documents including his wealth report. Earlier the police issued an warrant to arrest him for 1x24 hours and based on that Cirus stayed at the police intelligence as of Friday night.

The deputy head of national police intelligence, Inspector General Mathius Salempang, confirmed Cirus’s detention in line with the procedures. Earlier Cirus was given 20 questions by investigators who had suspected Cirus had eliminated corruption and money laundering charges in the Gayus’ case.

Cirus had also been confronted with Gayus’s lawyer Haposan and fellow prosecutor Fadil Regan in connection with the case. Cirus and Fadil were the prosecutors in the case of former tax official Gayus Tambunan suspected of embezzling Rp395 million in tax money of a Korean businessman.