Yustinus Paat & Farouk Arnaz, Jakarta – The National Police on Friday began a criminal investigation into a second antigraft commissioner in what many see as a systematic attempt to weaken the much-feared anti-corruption body.
Police summoned their first witness for questioning against Abraham Samad, the chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK.
Abraham was reported by a previously unheard-of group calling itself KPK Watch Indonesia, which accuses him of trying the vice presidential slot on Joko Widodo's ticket from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, last year.
The group said the move violated the 2002 KPK Law, which bars serving KPK commissioners from meetings that could cause conflicts of interests. The law, however, also states that the task of investigating such a violation rests in the hands of an ad hoc ethics committee, and not the police.
The witness, Supriansyah – who claimed to be an activist from Makassar, South Sulawesi, from where Abraham also hails – said Abraham came to his home in Jakarta twice between March and April last year.
The venue was chosen so he could meet the PDI-P's then-secretary general Tjahjo Kumolo and his deputy, Hasto Kristiyanto, in secret to discuss his bid, it was alleged. "Abraham asked me if he could borrow my apartment to meet some friends. I told him, no problem," Supriansyah said.
He said Abraham showed up at the meetings wearing a surgical mask, which he suspected was a way to avoid detection from his KPK colleagues. "A few moments later Hasto came with a man whom I later discovered was Tjahjo Kumolo," Supriansyah said.
Hasto, who was previously part of Joko's campaign team, was the first to make the allegation against Abraham, just a few days after the KPK charged Joko's sole candidate for National Police chief, Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, with bribery. Budi was the security aide to former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, the PDI-P chairwoman.
Abraham has dismissed the claims as lies, while Tjahjo, now the home affairs minister, has denied Hasto's story that the PDI-P planned or even considered putting Abraham on Joko's ticket.
The investigation into Abraham came after the police abruptly reopened a cold case against KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto, based on a report refiled recently by another PDI-P politician.
Allegations of attempts to criminalize the antigraft body grew louder last week as another KPK deputy, Adnan Pandu Praja, was also reported to police in an old case.
A third KPK deputy, Zulkarnain, also faces a criminal probe after PDI-P politician Zaenal Abidin accused the former prosecutor of taking a bribe in a 2008 case.
Police claim they are not retaliating against the KPK for naming Budi a suspect, saying they are only acting on complaints filed by members of the public. They have not said why they are reviving cases that are up to 10 years old, or moving with uncharacteristic swiftness to investigate them.