Nivell Rayda – Embattled Corruption Eradication Commission deputy chairmen Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto on Sunday rejected police allegations that they had received Rp 3 billion ($312,000) in bribe money from fugitive businessman Anggoro Widjaja, saying the accusations were insulting and slanderous.
Speaking at a news conference at the Law and Policy Study Center in Kuningan, South Jakarta, Chandra and Bibit told reporters they had documents that proved their innocence.
Bibit said police had alleged he had taken Rp 1.5 billion from Ary Muladi, a suspect connected to the Anggoro case, between Aug. 11 and 18 at the Bellagio Residence apartments, but this was not possible because he was in South America at the time.
Bibit showed reporters an assignment letter from the commission, also known as the KPK, a letter from the Embassy of Peru in Jakarta and his passport. "I have never been to the Bellagio and at that time I was in Peru attending a meeting with our counterparts there," he said.
Bibit and Chandra were controversially charged with abuse of power connected to travel bans requested against two corruption suspects earlier this month.
Critics have described the police's decision as a maneuver to oust the two deputies from the KPK, which was moving to investigate the chief detective of the National Police, Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, in relation to a major corruption investigation.
After protests from antigraft groups and legal experts for "criminalizing the KPK's procedures and authority," the police on Friday announced Chandra and Bibit as suspects in a separate bribery case.
At the press conference, Chandra pointed out inconsistencies in the police charges. "Allegations against me changed several times," he said. "First Ary Muladi told police investigators that he gave the money to me on Feb. 27, then police said it was on April 15, and finally police on Friday announced that it happened in March."
Chandra went as far as to say the allegations were slanderous. "I have never taken bribes from anyone. I feel insulted by the charges laid against me," he said.
Little is known about Ary Muladi, who is now in police custody, other than the fact that he is a self-employed man with a degree in agriculture.
Police investigators handling the case told the Jakarta Globe previously that Ary had been inconsistent in his testimonies and could not produce solid evidence to back his claims that he had bribed officials at the request of Anggoro.
Anggoro fled the country when the KPK began investigating his company, PT Masaro Radiokom, last year for irregularities in a procurement project for the Ministry of Forestry in 2007.
Separately on Sunday, Transparency International Indonesia demanded the government form an independent team to look into police dossiers on the case to see whether the police had enough preliminary evidence to charge the KPK officials.
"If not, then we can say that there is a hidden motive behind the police's decision," said Teten Masduki, the watchdog's secretary general.
Bambang Widodo Umar, an independent police expert and professor at the University of Indonesia, said that Susno should temporarily step down from his current position due to the potential conflict of interest.
"The fact that Susno had been wiretapped by the KPK is enough reason to temporarily remove Susno," he said. "By declaring Chandra and Bibit as suspects, Susno has only given the police a bad name, let alone if the two are found not guilty in a court of law."