Jakarta – The antigraft body has formally requested a meeting with the police to discus whether it can take over investigations into a slew of corruption allegations centering on former taxman Gayus Tambunan, who claimed Monday that he was only a pawn in the crimes he admitted to having committed.

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Bibit Samad Rianto said Monday the commission was ready to take over the Gayus case and it had sent a letter to the National Police asking for a meeting with newly installed National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo.

"The schedule is up to him," he said. The KPK, he added, had not yet decided which of the various graft allegations surrounding Gayus – who has been charged with tax fixing and bribery – it would take over from the police. "We'll see what the police have done with regard to the Gayus case and then we'll decide which case [we can follow up]."

The police have not yet responded to the KPK's request, but detective chief Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi said as quoted by Antara that the handover of the investigations into Gayus' alleged crimes should be in accordance with regulations.

Police spokesman Brig. Gen. I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana said: "We take the idea of taking over Gayus' case as input. But the most important thing is good communication between the KPK and police in the field."

He said the police were still working on the Gayus case and that it was not necessary for the antigraft body to immediately take over the case.

Calls for the antigraft body to take on the Gayus case are mounting. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party said the police could no longer handle the case and should have handed it to the KPK to ease public antipathy toward the institution. According to the 2002 KPK Law, the commission is allowed to take over a corruption case from other institutions if there is indication that the probe into the case is also marred with corruption and aimed at protecting certain groups.

Gayus is standing trial for allegedly bribing police detectives, prosecutors and a judge to the tune of US$2.5 million to escape charges. He is also alleged to have amassed billions of rupiah from tax evaders while he was still at the tax office.

Investigations revealed that Gayus amassed at least Rp 100 billion (US$11 million) from 43 corporate taxpayers, including three giant mining firms partly owned by family of Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie.

So far, only the case related to PT Surya Alam Tunggal has been sent to court. The police have failed to prove that the company's money went to Gayus.

In his testimony on Monday, Gayus told the court that the government should not focus on him if it wants to eradicate corruption at the taxation office. "Start [probing] from the tax office's director general to the head of the local tax offices."

Gayus, a low-rank official, said that he was "nobody" at the tax office, implying that his superiors were responsible for what he did.

The court decided to transfer Gayus from the police detention center in Depok to Cipinang Penitentiary on Monday evening.