Farouk Arnaz, Eddy Pratama & Heru Andriyanto – Lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution on Tuesday quit as legal counsel for graft convict Gayus Tambunan, saying the case had become politicized by groups seeking to further their own interests.

"We believe this case has become a political issue and has been marred by overlapping interests," Adnan told reporters in Jakarta. "And we've simply lost confidence in our client."

Adnan said he had agreed to defend Gayus after the former taxman convinced him they shared a common goal to expose corruption in the graft-riddled tax office and judiciary.

The veteran lawyer said Gayus had told him that he was "committed to uncovering the tax and judicial mafia," and was prepared to face capital punishment to achieve that.

However, Gayus has since recanted testimony made during police questioning, in the courtroom and to the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force. He said last week that he had been pressured by the task force into making claims about accepting Rp 35 billion ($3.9 million) in payments from three Bakrie Group firms.

"He had talked about that a number of times and I can't accept that he is now retracting that testimony," Adnan said. "I've lost my trust in him and no longer know what the truth is. That is the main reason why we're ending our relationship with him."

Adnan also said that Gayus had not told him about his illicit trips to Bali, Macau and Singapore while he was supposed to be in detention, and had read a statement to the court after the final hearing of his trial without the consent of his defense team.

"But I can't put the blame solely on Gayus. None of his valuable testimony elicited a response," he said, referring to the fact that many of the allegations made by Gayus in court had not been followed up by law enforcers.

Separately, Emerson Yuntho, deputy chairman of Indonesia Corruption Watch, said the Gayus case should have been handled from the start by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which only became involved in the investigation late last month.

"The scandal came to a dead end in the hands of the police and prosecutors," he said. "Cases related to the judicial or tax mafias should always be handled by the antigraft commission, which is relatively free of vested interests."

National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar, meanwhile, confirmed that two middle-ranking officers identified by Gayus as having helped him evade an embezzlement conviction last March would face a tribunal to determine whether they had violated the police code of conduct.