Jakarta – The National Police has yet to demonstrate its full support for the drive against corruption as none of the graft and bribery cases involving its officers have been handed over to the Attorney General's Office, a police watchdog says.

Indonesian Police Watch (IPW) executive director Neta S. Pane said in a press statement released on Sunday that the National Police had been moving too slowly in handling internal corruption.

"The police should be in the vanguard of the corruption eradication campaign. Ironically, the institution has been tainted by bribery, budget mark-ups and theft of state money," Neta was quoted by Antara as saying.

The statement was released in connection with National Police chief Gen. Sutanto's first 100 days in office.

Corruption cases involving police officers include the Rp 1.7 trillion (US$170 million) scandal at state-run Bank Negara Indonesia, which is said to involve Brig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko; a mark-up in a communications equipment project in the National Police; suspicious bank accounts belonging to 15 active and retired police officers, and a number of illegal logging cases involving police officers.

The chief of the Tebing Tinggi Police in North Sumatra has lost his job for his alleged role in the smuggling of sugar, and the chief of the Bogor Police has been replaced in connection with illegal charges imposed on people applying for driving licenses.

"Strangely, no criminal investigations have followed these replacements. The police chiefs were suspended but have evaded justice," Neta said.

The police had also been slow to investigate a number of corruption cases in other government institutions, which are believed to have caused up to Rp 140 trillion in state losses, as well as the failure of former Attorney General M.A. Rachman to declare all his assets.

"There hasn't been any progress in these cases for months, and the police do not seem to be prioritizing them," Neta said.

The IPW attributes the police's poor performance to Sutanto's reluctance to get rid of the 'deadwood' in the institution.

"Within 100 days, Sutanto only replaced five regional police chiefs and two senior officers at National Police Headquarters. Whereas a major reshuffle would be an initial step to improving the National Police's performance," Neta said.

Sutanto, he added, must dare to overcome the bureaucratic obstacles to weed out the 'bad cops' for the sake of increased public trust in the force.