Rabby Pramudatama, Jakarta – Despite clear directives from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the National Police appear to be reluctant in letting the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) fully handle the vehicle simulator graft investigation.
Instead of voluntarily letting the KPK body proceed with its work, the police turned to the Criminal Code to defend its stance. Based on the KPK Law, the antigraft body has the full power to proceed with its own investigation.
Using articles in the Criminal Code, however, the police told the KPK to also use the results of the police's preliminary investigation, which has identified several suspects in the case.
The KPK prefers not to use materials from the police's investigation because concerns such materials could conflict information previously collected.
"We had a coordination meeting for the hand-over process at the National Police headquarters yesterday [on Thursday], but we did not come to an agreement on several technicalities," KPK spokesperson Johan Budi told reporters at the KPK's building, on Friday.
Johan said the technicalities were related to the legal basis used to hand over the vehicle simulator procurement case to the KPK for further prosecution.
The police and KPK were also still undecided on the status of two people who had been named suspects by the police.
Johan said further that the two institutions had scheduled another meeting on Friday to break the stalemate. However, the meeting failed to take place as police officers failed to show up at the KPK's headquarters.
The vehicle simulator scandal centers on the procurement of 700 two-wheeled and 556 four-wheeled vehicle simulators by the National Police Traffic Corps (Korlantas) in 2011.
The KPK has named Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo, the former Korlantas chief, a suspect. He is the first active duty police general ensnared in corruption case handled by the commission.
Djoko skipped his first KPK questioning session but showed up for questioning after the second summons. The KPK has announced that it would proceed with its questioning of Djoko after the hand-over process was complete.
The government has reportedly lost US$19.81 million in the procurement project, which was valued at Rp 200 billion. The case also has connections to National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo, who was required to approve the procurement due to its large price tag.
Meanwhile, the National Police have insisted on proceeding with their own investigation, although the antigraft commission had already started their probe.
President Yudhoyono, in a recent speech, ordered the National Police to hand over the case to the KPK.
Speaking on a separate occasion on Friday, Deputy Law and Human Rights Minister Denny Indrayana dismissed assumptions that the disagreement was caused by a prevailing rift between the two institutions.
"I rather see the problem not as a deadlock. I see it as ordinary discussion between fellow law enforcement institutions," he said.
He said it was natural for the National Police, the KPK, and the Attorney General's Office to be cautious in conducting the dossier hand over according to legal mechanisms.
"But I think if we refer to the President's instruction, then basically the case should be handed over to the KPK. The legal basis for the process is pretty clearly stipulated in the KPK's law," he said.
Earlier in the week, KPK deputy chairman Busyro Muqoddas hinted that the police would deliver the dossier within the week.