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With spectacular irony, police admitted on Wednesday they had produced a misleading official document that named the head of the General Elections Commission a suspect in a case alleging forgery of an official document.

Abdul Hafiz Anshary, who is chairman of the commission known as the KPU, is an informant in the case, not a suspect.

The incorrect document — a letter of commencement of investigation — had been flourished at reporters by a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, Noor Rachmad, on Tuesday.

“You could say that it was not very carefully made,” said police spokesman Ketut Untung Yoga Ana on Wednesday.

Ketut said that Hafiz’s status was still being evaluated and may still be changed from informant to suspect.

“The report is still being investigated to see if it contains criminal elements or not,” he added.

The case stems from a police report filed against Hafiz by Abdul Syukur Mandar, an unsuccessful People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) candidate in the 2009 legislative elections in North Maluku. Syukur accused Hafiz of rigging the election in favor of his opponent.

In order to remove the confusion about Hafiz’s status, Deputy Attorney General Agung Darmono has asked for the letter to be rescinded.

“If they’re saying he’s not a suspect, it’s easy. Pull the letter, end the investigation, problem solved. No need for a fuss,” Darmono said on Wednesday.

Darmono denied that the public prosecutors had any special interest in having Hafiz declared a suspect. He said they were merely acting on the official letter supplied by the police, signed by the head of their criminal investigations unit.

“It was not a fake letter,” he said. “The prosecutors were just doing their job by following up on it,” Darmono said.

This is not the first time that National Police headquarters have issued misleading documents during investigations. In a 2010 case of suspected corruption around the removal of tobacco from the list of addictive substances in the health law, police named Ribka Tjiptaning, a member of the House of Representatives, as a suspect. However, just as in the latest case, the police later said there had been a typographical error, and that the politician was actually a witness.

Activist group Indonesian Police Watch said the latest confusing back-and-forth was regrettable and said the two justice bodies were behaving childishly.

“The argument between the Attorney General’s Office and the police about Hafiz is a real shame. It’s led them to behave immaturely,” IPW’s Neta S. Pane told news agency Antara.

He said the incident had worsened the working relationship between the two. The public’s faith in rule of law was also weakened, he added, also suggesting the president should pay attention to the problem.