After questioning three police officers and naming them graft suspects, the National Police will question two prosecutors in connection with an alleged case broker scandal involving former tax official Gayus Tambunan.
Police sent a letter to the Attorney General's Office requesting approval to question the two prosecutors, Cirus Sinaga and Fadhil Regan, who handled the Gayus case.
Gayus was accused of illegally amassing Rp 28 billion (US$3.1 million) in his bank account. He is believed to have bribed police, prosecutors and judges to get the charges dropped.
Three police officers who investigated Gayus have been named suspects in the scandal. Tangerang District Court judge Muhtadi Asnun has admitted to receiving Rp 50 million ($5,500) from Gayus.
"We are still waiting for permission from Attorney General [Hendarman Supandji]," Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Marwan Effendy said Friday. He added that Cirrus and Fadhil would be questioned as witnesses.
The AGO has conducted its own investigation to verify whether prosecutors were also involved in the case broker scandal. It concluded that 12 prosecutors, including Cirus and Fadil, failed to carry out a proper examination of the Gayus case.
They were handed disciplinary sanctions, ranging from delayed promotion, demotion and dismissal. However, they were not found to have accepted bribes.
AGO spokeman Didiek Darmanto on Friday dismissed media reports that Cirus owned a large house worth Rp 5 billion ($554,000) in Medan. He said that according to "internal sources" the house was valued at less than Rp 1 billion.
"The house is only worth around Rp 500 million, only the media claim that it is worth between Rp 3 and 5 billion," he said. He criticized the media for publishing "unreliable information".
Didiek also questioned the motive for what he called the exaggeration by the media.
An official with Cirus' rank usually earns about Rp 10 million per month. Reports that he owned a Rp 5 billion house have raised suspicion he received bribes. Cirus has not disclosed the source of his wealth to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
If the investigation finds the two prosecutors did receive bribes from Gayus Tambunan, they could face permanent dismissal as stipulated in the 2004 Public Prosecutors Law.
Deputy Attorney General for Monitoring Hamzah Tadja earlier said the prosecutors in the Gayus case who were found guilty of accepting bribes would be permanently dismissed.
"The investigation is no longer in the hands of the AGO, but with the police and the KPK."
However, he said, investigators had not found evidence to confirm allegations made by Gayus that he had bribed prosecutors to go easy on him during trial. "We will question Gayus on his slanderous claims," he said.
Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis told The Jakarta Post that investigators also planned to question a judge in the scandal.