Jakarta – The newly elected chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Mr Taufieqqurrochman Ruki, has vowed to develop it into a credible institution.

Once the organisation is established, the KPK will focus on eradicating corruption in the civil service, law enforcement institutions and the private sector, he said on Wednesday.

He said those three areas were the most prone to corruption practices that could cause great losses to the state.

"I am also focusing on corruption eradication in law enforcement institutions because it would be impossible to clean a dirty floor with a dirty broom," Mr Taufieqqurrochman told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview.

The KPK, he said, would examine high-profile corruption cases currently in the hands of police and prosecutors before deciding whether to take over investigations and prosecutions from them.

The "super body" has the authority to investigate and prosecute corruption cases – previously the domain of the police and the prosecutors' office – particularly cases involving the state apparatus and cases that have caused state losses amounting to a minimum of 1 billion rupiah.

"We can examine and take over [investigation into corruption cases]. But we must be sure that we have better capability," he said. He promised that the KPK would maintain accountability by being transparent to the public.

He said it would report the development of each investigation every three months to the President, the House of Representatives, universities, non-governmental institutions and those who needed it.

He also promised that the five KPK leaders, including himself, would not cover up the mistakes of their colleagues should they be involved in bribery or collusion.

"The KPK leadership must be clean and trustworthy. If one of us fails to fulfil the requirement, he must resign. The House must select another one," he said. The first six months after its establishment, which is scheduled onr December 27, would be spent on developing the KPK organisation, he said.

He promised that the recruitment of personnel would be transparent in a bid to get staff with integrity. He also plans to make the KPK "a not-too-big organisation because we need to work fast".

For the same reason, he did not expect the KPK to establish provincial branches despite its authority to eradicate graft across the country.