“After the Investigation Order on behalf of the witness Syahrul Yasin Limpo was signed and established as a suspect, the examined (Firli Bahuri) resumed communication with the witness Syahrul Yasin Limpo via WhatsApp messages in September 2023,” said member of the KPK Supervisory Board Ethics Council, Syamsuddin Haris, quoted from Liputan6.com, Wednesday, December 27, 2023. The communication occurred while Syahrul Yasin Limpo, also known as SYL, was on a business trip to Rome, Italy. At that time, investigators were searching the residence of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Kasdi Subagyono.

“Considering that the examined party in the Minutes of Clarification expressed doubts about the validity of the conversation between the examined party and witness Syahrul Yasin Limpo in the form of a screenshot, however, the doubts of the examined party are unfounded because they are not supported by other evidence and also based on the testimony of digital forensics expert Saji Purwanto, the screenshot of the communication between the examined party and witness Syahrul Yasin Limpo via the WhatsApp application, which originated from the mobile phone belonging to witness Syahrul Yasin Limpo that was confiscated by KPK investigators and used as evidence in court, is true and not the result of editing,” added Haris. The KPK Supervisory Board's Ethics Commission has imposed severe ethical sanctions on Firli Bahuri for meeting with Syahrul Yasin Limpo. This meeting was held by Firli Bahuri to protect SYL from the corruption case being handled by the anti-corruption agency's enforcement team.

"Stating that Mr. Firli Bahuri has been proven legally and convincingly to have violated the code of ethics by having direct or indirect relations with Syahrul Yasin Limpo, whose case is currently being handled by the KPK, and not informing other leaders which allegedly caused a conflict of interest and did not demonstrate exemplary behavior in daily life," said the Chairman of the Ethics Council, Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean. Tumpak mentioned that Firli Bahuri has violated Article 4 paragraph 2 letter a or Article 4 paragraph 1 letter j and Article 8 paragraph e of the KPK Supervisory Board Regulation Number 3 of 2021."