Attorneys for Anies and Ganjar Kompak Ask the Judge to Present the Minister of Finance and Minister of Social Affairs at the Constitutional Court Session – 2024-03-28 22:02:43

Chief Judge of the Constitutional Court Suhartoyo (center) accompanied by a panel of Constitutional Court judges leading the PHPU follow-up trial (MI/Usman Iskandar)

The legal representatives of the presidential candidate pair (paslon) and vice presidential candidate Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD asked the panel of judges to present the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani and the Minister of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini in the trial of the 2024 Presidential Election Results Dispute (PHPU) case. It is hoped that the minister will be able to explain the use of social assistance (bansos) which is considered to benefit Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka.

This request was submitted after the responses from the KPU as the respondent and Prabowo-Gibran and Bawaslu as the related parties had been read. Anies-Muhaimin’s attorney, Ari Yusuf Amir, initially asked the constitutional judge to help present a number of ministers such as the Minister of Finance, Minister of Social Affairs, Minister of Trade and Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs in the witness and expert examination session.

This request was then welcomed by Ganjar-Mahfud’s attorney, Todung Mulya Lubis. According to him, by presenting these ministers, he can explain the distribution of social assistance which is considered to have an influence on the electoral votes of the Prabowo-Gibran candidate pair in the 2024 presidential election.

“At least this ministry is very important and vital and we ask the panel of judges to grant this request,” said Todung.

Ganjar-Mahfud’s attorney, Maqdir Ismail, added that the request to summon a number of ministers was considered important for the applicant’s evidence, especially regarding the policies taken by the government regarding the distribution of social assistance.

“After all, the use of social assistance comes from the APBN, and the APBN belongs to all of us, not to certain people. So we hope that we will be given the opportunity to summon them, present them so that they can explain the basis and considerations for the use of social assistance worth up to IDR 496 trillion,” said Maqdir.

Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Suhartoyo, said that the request to summon these ministers would be considered at the judges’ deliberation meeting (RPH).

“Regarding the request to summon the ministry, we will first discuss it at the judges’ deliberation meeting,” said Suhartoyo. (Mall/Z-7)