Setya Novanto, Speaker of the House of Representatives
I was just joking about wanting Freeport shares

House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Setya Novanto had a slip-up, again. Last week, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said filed a complaint against the speaker to the DPR's ethics council. Setya allegedly misused the names of President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla by asking for Freeport Indonesia stocks. A transcript of Setya's conversation with Freeport Indonesia's CEO Maroef Sjamsuddin and businessman Muhammad Riza Chalid suddenly came to light.

Setya, a bigwig in Golkar Party, denied he had improperly mentioned the President. He claimed to have demanded shares in the mining company in jest. "It was just a joke," Setya told Tempo reporters Budi Setyarso, I Wayan Agus Purnomo, Ayu Primasandi, Hussein Abri Yusuf and Nur Haryanto in an interview at his office in the DPR building last week.

November 24, 2015