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Attorney General Hendarman Supandji signaled on Friday that his office would most likely stop the investigation into corruption allegations involving three suspects at the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok, including Indonesian Ambassador to Thailand Muhammad Hatta.

“A corruption case requires that state losses are incurred and that the primary culprits are enriching themselves or others,” Hendarman said at a press conference. “But the money taken from [the embassy’s budget] was still safely stored in a locker. The state didn’t lose any money and [the suspects] didn’t take it for their personal gain.”

The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) suggested that there had simply been a breach of administrative procedures, Hendarman said.

A separate investigation by the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) found a “potential financial loss” in the scandal but, according to Hendarman, prosecutions over a graft case “must begin with the firm belief that state losses, and not just a potential loss, were indeed incurred.”

The Constitutional Court has ruled that prosecutors could only launch graft investigations if state auditors had found a definite, and not just a potential loss, he said.

“The documents are still in my desk. I have not decided yet. I’m still thinking it over,” Hendarman said.

The Attorney General’s Office has named three suspects in the case, comprising of Hatta, his deputy Djumantoro Purbo and former treasurer Suhaemi.

Indications that the AGO plans to drop the case have drawn protests from antigraft groups, who suspect political intervention.

Indonesia Corruption Watch has formally asked the Corruption Eradication Commission to take over the case from the AGO, while the Indonesian Anticorruption Society (Maki) criticized prosecutors for “acting soft when dealing with suspects who hold political power.”

Hatta is the former chairman of the Golkar faction in the House of Representatives.

The three suspects are accused of misappropriating state budget amounting to Rp 2.49 billion ($266,000). In its letter to the antigraft commission, the ICW said that according to the joint decree between the KPK and AGO, the commission may review and take over any corruption case being handled by the AGO.

The BPKP earlier told prosecutors that the suspects had used embassy funds for unofficial spending such as playing golf and entertaining guests, then collected receipts from travel agencies to claim official trips.

But Marwan Effendy, the deputy attorney general for special crimes, said that all the spending, including the games of golf, was “in the interests of the Indonesian people.”