Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – They call him King Rat. Of many influential Indonesians plotting the downfall of President Abdurrahman Wahid, none is doing more to undermine his rule than Surojo Bimantoro, the national police chief.

His refusal to obey Mr Wahid's commands has exposed deep divisions in the 200,000-member national police force, and played into the hands of Mr Wahid's enemies, especially MPs backing Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri for the presidency.

But serious allegations have been raised about General Bimantoro as he vows to block Mr Wahid's latest threat to declare a state of emergency that would allow him to disband parliament before it can impeach him.

Since Mr Wahid first tried to sack him three weeks ago General Bimantoro has claimed he cannot step aside because parliament had this year passed a decree declaring that the President must first obtain its approval before sacking the national police chief.

But this contradicts General Bimantoro's stand when Mr Wahid appointed him last September.

"As an officer, I accept [the orders] of my superiors," he said. General Bimantoro chose then to ignore parliament's opposition to his appointment.

Like so many others baying for Mr Wahid's blood, the stiff-backed and moustached General Bimantoro rose to prominence during the 32-year-rule of the corrupt dictator Soeharto. Police in Indonesia are paid a pittance, and corruption among the ranks is endemic. When the Jakarta police chief retired last year he presented his former colleagues with 22 imported cars and 17 expensive motorcycles worth five times the force's annual operational costs.

Amid mounting chaos in the police ranks as General Bimantoro continued to defy Mr Wahid, a bundle of documents about the purchase of a fleet of police patrol boats was leaked to the magazine Tempo. The documents revealed that a $60 million contract to buy the boats went to a company managed by someone with close ties to General Bimantoro. The recommendations of a police team set up to assess which boats to buy from a shortlist of 10 companies were ignored.

General Bimantoro has not commented publicly on the deal. According to sources at the presidential palace, the mere mention of General Bimantoro's name infuriates Mr Wahid, whose chances of remaining in office after the impeachment hearings now appear remote. Mr Wahid has tried to prise General Bimantoro out of office by making him ambassador to Malaysia. But acknowledging his own limitations – he does not speak English – General Bimantoro refused the job and continued to refuse to hand in the police chief"s baton.

When the President's office indicated last week that Mr Wahid wanted General Bimantoro arrested for insubordination, two platoons of riot police, backed by police tanks, arrived at his home to protect him. Seeing the move would not work, Mr Wahid backed down.

One reason Mr Wahid cites for wanting to dismiss General Bimantoro is that police under his command fired live ammunition during a rally of his supporters in East Java two months ago, killing one of them. Police under General Bimantoro's command staged a huge show of force in Jakarta this week. They are threatening to shoot troublemakers on sight and have again issued their officers with live bullets.