Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – In the eyes of the public, the charges leveled against Corruption Eradication Commission deputies Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah last year in a scandal that dominated headlines for weeks were always weak.

But now, a police source close to the investigation has said that the National Police knew all along that the case was built on shaky evidence, but persisted anyway.

The complex case revolves around businessman Anggodo Widjojo, who claims to have given Rp 5.1 billion ($565,000) to Bibit and Chandra through a middleman, Ary Muladi, to drop a graft case against his brother, businessman Anggoro Widjojo.

A hesitant investigator

The source, who agreed to speak to the Jakarta Globe on condition of anonymity, said there had been at least three telephone conversations between Comr. Farman, the police investigator who led the Bibit and Chandra probe, and Ade Rahardja, deputy director for enforcement at the antigraft commission, known as the KPK.

In the conversations, between Aug. 3 and 20, Farman reportedly discussed the case with Ade, a two-star police general assigned to the KPK. On Aug. 20, the same day a key witness retracted his testimony, the conversation reportedly lasted almost two hours.

"Farman didn't want to take the case. He told Kaba many times that he wanted to stay out of it because there was little evidence to begin with. But Kaba remained steadfast," the source said.

Kaba is short for Kabareskrim, or chief of detectives, a position inside the National Police held at the time by the controversial Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji.

"[Farman] told me the case had become a huge burden for him. But at the same time, it was impossible to disobey a superior," the source said.

The source said Ade had told Farman to keep a record of every instruction from Susno: what the instruction was, when it was made and who could verify the order, so as to "save his own skin."

Ade promised to help Farman if he was confronted by Susno or if internal affairs looked into the case, the source added.

On Sept. 16, a few weeks after the conversations took place, the National Police leveled an initial abuse of power charge against Bibit and Chandra in relation to the lifting of travel bans, including one requested for Anggodo.

Ade acknowledged he had been in contact with Farman on several occasions. "We coordinated on the case many times. I can't recall how many, but it was definitely more than once or twice," he told the Globe.

"Farman sought confirmation on a lot of things, such as the identity of people claiming to be KPK officials, which later proved to be untrue, my whereabouts and a fake letter annulling a travel ban."

Farman, who is a prosecution witness in Anggodo's ongoing graft trial, declined to comment. "I can't talk about anything," he said after testifying at the Anti-Corruption Court.

The weakest link

On July 11, 2009, middleman Ary Muladi emerged as a supposed key witness backing up Anggodo's bribery claims, saying he gave the Rp 5.1 billion to the KPK deputies through Ade, whom he said he had met several times.

"We noticed some inconsistencies in Ary's remarks. He claimed to have given the money to Ade in a parking lot in front of Trattoria at Bellagio," the source said, referring to a restaurant at the Bellagio Residence apartments in Mega Kuningan, South Jakarta.

"But he couldn't provide proof, such as parking tickets, and security guards said that Ary's car never entered the premises.

"Ary later changed his story, saying that he met Ade in Bandung when visiting his sick mother. Ade's mother is old but was never sick.

"He later said he met Ade at the KPK, but his cellphone records showed that he was in Lebak Bulus," 15 kilometers away from the KPK office, at the time of the supposed visit.

Farman tried to confront Ary over these anomalies, the source said. "Ary tried to run," the source said. "He didn't answer our calls. So we arrested him."

It was after he was arrested on Aug. 20 that Ary retracted his testimony, saying that he had been lying the whole time. The money, Ary claimed, went to another person, identified as Yulianto, who has never been found.

"Everything Ary said was a lie. There might not even be a Yulianto. We suspect that Ary kept all of Anggodo's money for himself," the source said.

"There was only proof of 15 money transfers to a person named Eddy Rachman, who [Ary] said worked for the KPK. But again this is false. Eddy was actually working for Anggodo." Police recently charged Ary with embezzlement.

A conflict of interest

"When we arrested Ary, Kaba acknowledged that we had nothing on Bibit and Chandra. But he kept on talking to the media, suggesting otherwise," the source said.

Susno allegedly instructed his officers to charge the KPK deputies despite the fact there was not enough proof the bribery had ever taken place.

"We were told to use charges that could be loosely interpreted," the source said. "We knew that if the case went to trial we would have lost. But Kaba didn't seem to care."

Only in November did police charge Bibit and Chandra with extortion in relation to the Rp 5.1 billion allegedly received from Anggodo. The source said that by the time Bibit and Chandra were charged with abuse of power in September, Susno had taken Farman off the case.

Critics, including Bibit and Chandra, have always claimed that the police actions were designed to oust the two deputies from the KPK because they were gearing up for an investigation into Susno in relation to a major corruption case.

Under the 2002 Law on the KPK, commissioners face automatic suspension once named criminal suspects, which was what happened in September.

Bibit said that in March 2009, the KPK began investigating Susno for allegedly receiving bribes from a lawyer in exchange for unfreezing Rp 2 trillion belonging to tycoon Budi Sampoerna, which had been frozen when PT Bank Century was saved from collapse by the government. Susno allegedly solicited a Rp 10 billion payoff, a charge he tearfully denied in a hearing at the House of Representatives last year.

"It was never our intention to wiretap Susno. We had been wiretapping someone else, but Susno contacted this person," Bibit said. "I don't know how the word got out but eventually Susno knew that he was being wiretapped and followed."

Susno repeatedly told the media that he was merely testing the KPK's surveillance abilities by pretending to be involved in a bribery case.

Susno did, however, acknowledge in the House hearing that he helped Budi get his Rp 2 trillion back despite the fact that the Deposit Insurance Agency (LPS) only covered accounts of up to Rp 2 billion.

In January, during a House probe into the bailout, a Bank Century official said he had been forced to divide Budi's assets into 1,000 separate accounts to make it appear as though the withdrawals were legitimate.

"Kaba early on wanted the case [against Bibit and Chandra] to be dealt with swiftly. Kaba also wanted us to ensure that Anggodo, Anggoro and Ary were protected by the LPSK," the police source said, referring to the Witness and Victim Protection Agency.

But the airing of wiretapped conversations at the Constitutional Court, that showed Anggodo and various other officials attempting to cook up charges against the two commissioners led to a public backlash.

It led to the president to appoint a team to evaluate the police's handling of the case. On Nov. 17, the team concluded that "the charges against Bibit and Chandra were not based on enough preliminary evidence... and motivated by a deep conflict of interest or an act of retaliation."

Police persistence

Muhammad Assegaf, a lawyer representing Susno, who was removed from his post after the scandal broke, denied his client had masterminded the alleged framing of Bibit and Chandra.

"There is no evidence to suggest that Susno fabricated a case against Bibit and Chandra. Police work was based on evidence and the investigators were given independence in executing their job," Assegaf told the Globe. "Susno only gave one instruction to his subordinates, which was to remain objective and stick to the facts obtained from the field."

On Dec. 2, the Attorney General's Office halted the criminal prosecution of Bibit and Chandra. But Anggodo, who was arrested by the KPK for attempted bribery and obstruction of justice in January, challenged the decision to drop the charges, and the South Jakarta District Court in April sided with him, ordering the AGO to proceed with the case.

Despite Susno's arrest by the National Police in connection with two separate graft cases, police maintain they were correct to charge Bibit and Chandra, citing records of 64 conversations between Ary and Ade, as well as CCTV footage. The contents of the footage remain a closely guarded secret.

During Anggodo's graft trial last week, Farman told the Anti-Corruption Court that the call records were "not on the list of evidence that we had obtained."

The National Police's current chief of detectives, Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi, however, said on Friday that evidence against Bibit and Chandra did exist. "The case is being handled by more than one unit. It is possible that Farman didn't know that we had the call records," Ito said.

The Anti-Corruption Court this month ordered the National Police to disclose all the evidence against Bibit and Chandra in a bid to resolve the legal quandary surrounding the case.

Bibit and Chandra's lawyer, Taufik Basari, said this was a positive move. "Since early on, we believed the case was full of fabrications. If the police do have evidence, then it shouldn't be hard for them to present it before the court," Taufik told the Globe.

"However, if the police fail to present the evidence, then suffice it to say the police didn't have enough preliminary evidence to charge Bibit and Chandra and must issue a public apology."