Nivell Rayda – The Anti-Corruption Court on Tuesday ordered the National Police to disclose wiretapped recordings between a Corruption Eradication Commission official and a suspected case broker.
National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri told House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, last November that it was right to declare commission deputies Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamza extortion suspects.
Bambang told the House that police had obtained 64 recordings between the Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK) chief of graft enforcement, Ade Rahardja, and Ary Muladi, who police suspect channeled Rp 5.1 billion ($565,000) from businessman Anggodo Widjojo to Bibit and Chandra.
The KPK deputies' lawyer, Alexander Lay, welcomed the court's decision. "This will prove once and for all whether police indeed had obtained such recordings, because as far as we know there never was any contact between Ade and Ary Muladi," Alex said.
"If police do not present the recordings to the court we will urge the National Police to apologize to the Indonesian people for making a case against Bibit and Chandra out of little or no evidence."
Anggodo's lawyer, Thomson Situmeang, said the recordings did exist. "We asked the police to disclose the recordings but our request was denied by Ito because there was no court order," Thomson said, referring to chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi.
Anggodo is on trial at the Anti-Corruption Court for attempting to bribe Bibit and Chandra in exchange for the halting of a KPK case against his brother, Anggoro Widjojo. Anggoro is believed to have fled to Singapore.
The KPK claims Ary gave the money to a middleman named Yulianto, who is now missing.
During Anggodo's trial last month, Ade told the court that police had never questioned him about the recordings, nor had his voice been taken for comparison with the voices on the tapes. "I never contacted Ary Muladi directly or indirectly," he said.
The prosecution on Tuesday was given the opportunity to present its wiretapped recordings.
Lead KPK prosecutor Suwarji said they included some of the 67 recordings between Anggodo and several law enforcers previously presented to the Constitutional Court on Nov. 3. That hearing was televised live across the nation and caused a public outcry after it revealed an alleged plot to fabricate a bribery case against the KPK deputies.
Recordings from both sides are scheduled to be presented when Anggodo's trial resumes next Tuesday.
The Attorney General's Office dropped the case against Bibit and Chandra in December following the public outrage over the wiretapped conversations and after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had called for the termination of the case amid a media uproar.
But the South Jakarta District Court and the Jakarta High Court accepted a motion by Anggodo and ruled that the case against the two KPK deputies must be brought to court.