Heru Andriyanto – Attorney General Basrief Arief on Friday blamed his spokesman for providing inaccurate data that stated that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had as yet failed to allow corruption investigations against 61 regional politicians to proceed.

Basrief said the figure was eight, not 61. "I apologize for the inaccuracy and I have questioned the director of investigations and the spokesman about this matter," he told reporters.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Noor Rachmad has earlier irked the president and his office by claiming that as many as 61 graft cases involving regional leaders were still awaiting presidential approval.

The presidential office immediately denied delaying any cases and argued that no requests had reached Yudhoyono's desk.

Basrief said he would coordinate with the Cabinet Secretariat about the eight cases that needed presidential approval. "As I said before, district [prosecutors] often send the requests directly to the president while they need to pass my office first," he said.