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As the screening process for senior leadership posts at the Corruption Eradication Commission draws to a close, the remaining candidates are finding themselves under fierce public scrutiny.

Even human rights lawyer Bambang Widjojanto, widely considered a front-runner for one of the four commissioner posts, could not escape criticism on Tuesday.

Bambang came under attack from a group claiming to represent the Trisakti University forum of employees and alumni, which presented a report to the selection committee.

“It is our view that Bambang is not the right person to sit as one of the leaders at the KPK because he has defended a corrupt person in the past,” Dedy Arianto, a member of the group, said on Tuesday, referring to the commission by its abbreviation.

Central to the group’s complaint was a dispute between the Trisakti Foundation and Thoby Mutis, the rector of the university, in which Bambang acted as Thoby’s lawyer.

The dispute began in 2002 when Thoby changed the university statute, revoking the managing rights of the foundation and allowing him to stay on as rector beyond his appointed term.

The foundation lost its case against Thoby in 2003 at the district court level, but the Supreme Court overturned the first ruling and declared Thoby’s leadership illegal.

“As a person with integrity, Bambang should not defend a corrupt personality like Thoby,” Dedy said.

Bambang is one of 17 remaining candidates for the four KPK commissioner posts. The 17 hopefuls are scheduled to undergo a series of psychological tests and interviews over the next couple of weeks before the selection committee narrows down the list to eight.

Another of the remaining candidates, prosecutor Sutan Bagindo Fachmi, also came under fire on Tuesday.

Donal Fariz, from Indonesia Corruption Watch, said Sutan was the lead prosecutor in an illegal logging case against North Sumatra businessman Adelin Lis. Donal said ICW was concerned that Sutan had allowed Adelin to flee the country while his legal case was still pending.

Donal added that Sutan failed to bring charges against Hutomo “Tommy” Mandala Putra, the son of former President Suharto, in a controversial land-swap case involving the State Logistics Agency, Bulog. “We only view a few candidates as being acceptable: Bambang Widjojanto, Yunus Husein, and Abdullah Hehamahua,” Donal said. “We haven’t found any names from the police and prosecutor’s office that are satisfactory.”

Yunus is the chairman of the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) and Abdullah Hehamahua is an advisor to the KPK.

Separately, Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar announced on Tuesday that his office was conducting psychological tests on the candidates.

“Today we are conducting a profile assessment using an internationally licensed consultant, Dunamis. The assessment will be in written and interview form,” Patrialis said, adding that results would be announced to the public on Friday.

“We are scheduled to report the eight names to the president on August 18 and have the four inaugurated by December 19,” he said.