Camelia Pasandaran

Lawyers for the Corruption Eradication Commission Taufiq Basari, left, Bambang Widjojanto and Alexander Lay releasing a statement responding to police charges against antigraft officials. (Photo: Afriadi Hikmal, JG)

Anti-Graft Body Plans to Fight Police Charges

In the ongoing battle between the country’s antigraft agency and the police, the Corruption Eradication Commission is preparing to launch a three-pronged approach to defend its two deputy chairmen who have been named suspects in an abuse of power case.

Abdullah Hehamahua, an adviser to the commission, known as the KPK, said after meeting the commission’s lawyer on Tuesday that the KPK might bring the dispute to the Constitutional Court as well as report the police involved to the National Police Commission.

The commission will also request a pre-trial hearing, a court case provided for defendants seeking to get their charges dropped on the grounds that police used incorrect procedures while investigating the case.

KPK deputy chairmen Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah have been named as suspects by police for acting beyond their authority.

Police initially suspected that KPK members had accepted bribes from businessman Anggoro Widjaja in return for removing him as a suspect in a graft case. However, after failing find evidence of bribery, police pursued abuse of power charges against the two KPK deputies based on the issuance of travel bans on Anggoro and Djoko Tjandra, another graft suspect.

Abdullah said that police had followed incorrect procedures.

“In any case involving the commission, police should consult the KPK Law,” he said. “If other laws contradict this law in a case of corruption, the KPK Law is the final word.”

Bambang Widjojanto, a KPK lawyer, said on Tuesday that a team of lawyers from the commission would search for proof of whether [the police] had a conflict of interest in the case.

“If there is a conflict of interest involved in the case, then the whole legal process should be annulled,” Bambang said.

He said that the commission has also sent a letter to the president. “In the letter, we have requested the president review the National Police’s investigation process and stop it if necessary.”

The commission will also report police in the case to the National Police Commission for allegedly abusing their authority in their pursuit of KPK officials.

“We want to see [the police commission’s] reaction and what it can do regarding this case,” Bambang said. “We will also consider other steps such as filing a case with the Constitutional Court.”

However, Constitutional Court Judge Mahfud MD said on Sunday that the KPK has no authority to file the case as the power was not granted in the Constitution.

“I told [the KPK] lawyers that if they considered the police to be wrong, they should file a case with an administrative state court,” Mahfud said.

Mahfud said the KPK request for a travel ban was not a crime. “Police should be careful as their role concerns criminal acts only.”

Abdullah said that while the KPK cannot legally file a case with the Constitutional Court, the court can rule that the substance of a case is correct. “That will be enough for us,” he said.

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