Jakarta. Former Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Febrie Adriansyah on Tuesday asked a court to order law enforcement authorities to return 74 kilograms of gold and cash seized from his home as he challenged his designation as a corruption suspect.

The request was made during a pretrial hearing at the South Jakarta District Court, where Febrie is contesting the legality of investigative measures taken against him in connection with the assets discovered at his residence.

“We ask the court to order the respondents to return all belongings of the petitioner and his family that were taken and/or seized, intact and immediately after the ruling is delivered,” Febrie’s lawyer, Febri Diansyah, told the court.

In the petition, Febri also argued that the seizure of items from his client’s family home in the Parahyangan Golf 2 cluster of Sentul City, Bogor Regency, West Java, on July 9 was unlawful and therefore had no legal force.

Police have accused Febrie of money laundering and corruption following a search of his residence, where investigators discovered 74 kg of gold and millions of dollars in cash inside a concealed safe.

The discovery drew widespread public attention because Febrie was the Attorney General’s Office’s highest-ranking anti-corruption prosecutor at the time and had handled several major cases involving former and serving ministers as well as other prominent figures.

Speaking after the hearing, Febri said the seized property fell into two categories: Febrie’s personal belongings and items belonging to his family.

He said personal items, including documents and photographs, should be returned to their owners. He also argued that all other items seized during the search should be declared unlawfully obtained and therefore inadmissible as evidence.

The respondents in the pretrial case are the National Police’s Corruption Crime Eradication Corps and the Directorate of Investigation at the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes.

Add as a preferred source on Google +