Farouk Arnaz & Nivell Rayda – It's official. Internal investigators on Wednesday cleared the National Police's chief of detectives of all allegations of abuse of power and conflict of interest, saying the accusations against him could not be substantiated.

Comr. Gen Yusuf Manggabarani, head of the National Police's Internal Affairs Division, said a probe had found the decision by Chief Detective Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji to name two deputy chairmen of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) suspects over alleged extortion was procedurally justified and acceptable.

Susno, who has come under increasing public pressure to resign or be suspended, was also declared not guilty of misuse of authority in the issuance of a letter that later allowed a business tycoon to withdraw $18 million from troubled PT Bank Century.

"After we summoned 20 witnesses, including Susno and his men, we concluded that all the allegations are untrue and baseless. He did everything based on procedures and he did not intervene in the investigation process when handling the KPK's case," Yusuf said.

The report had also been submitted to National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri, who said no sanction could be decided upon before the investigation was completed.

Echoing Susno's earlier statement, Yusuf said Susno only wrote a letter to Century executives, at their behest, clarifying that businessman Boedi Sampoerna's funds were not connected to former Bank Century owner Robert Tantular, who was last month found guilty of banking fraud.

"It was not Susno's initiative to write the letter but Century's executives asked for it to clarify the status of the funds.

"There is also no evidence for the allegation that Susno received any inducement from Boedi because the fact is the KPK, which is now investigating this case, did not name him as suspect. It's nothing more than a rumor," Yusuf said.

Yusuf said investigators were now probing another complaint filed by lawyers for two suspended KPK commissioners – Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra Hamzah – Susno had named as suspects.

The lawyers on Monday accused Susno of breaching professional ethics by meeting with fugitive businessman Anggoro Widjaja. Susno met with him in Singapore on July 10, three days after the KPK had named Anggoro a suspect in a corruption case.

The lawyers also claimed Susno had sent a text message to KPK officials threatening them if they did not stop investigating the Bank Century case. Susno could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Ahmad Rifai, a lawyer for Chandra and Bibit, said the police's decision to clear Susno of misconduct was "disappointing but not unexpected."

"We demand an investigation by an independent team," he said. "A misconduct scandal as huge as this cannot be handled by police internal affairs. There would be too much bias and conflict of interest."

Ahmad said his team is still waiting for an investigation by the National Police Commission and a response from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. On Tuesday, Rifai and his team had sent a letter to Yudhoyono demanding Susno's suspension and the formation of an independent team of investigators.

Teten Masduki, secretary general of Transparency International Indonesia, said an independent team was needed to investigate Susno's alleged misconduct.

"All police investigation documents must be disclosed and examined to see if there was indeed enough evidence to declare Bibit and Chandra as suspects or there are other motives behind the decision," Teten said.