Nivell Rayda, Farouk Arnaz & Heru Andriyanto – Though heads began rolling early on Thursday from the fallout of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) scandal, with the National Police's chief detective and a deputy attorney general both resigning, the plot thickened before the day ended.

At a late-night hearing held by the House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees law and security affairs, National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri delivered a strong defense of the police's case, publicly outlining for the first time their evidence against Chandra M Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto, two deputy chairmen of the antigraft agency.

However, the bribery case detailed by Bambang did not support the initial charges of extortion related to the probe of fugitive Anggoro Widjojo, the businessman at the center of a corruption scandal involving the Forestry Ministry. Instead, he claimed the police had evidence that the KPK deputies received bribes to protect a senior government official.

The revelations capped a dramatic day that began with members of the so-called Team of 8, the fact-finding team established by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday to investigate the scandal, threatening to resign, saying their recommendation to the National Police to suspend Chief Detective Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji had fallen on deaf ears.

However, Susno and Deputy Attorney General Abdul Hakim Ritonga both handed in their resignations later in the day. Calls for them to be removed from their posts mounted after wiretapped telephone conversations aired live on national television on Tuesday linked them to an apparent conspiracy to bring down Chandra and Bibit, as well as the KPK.

Yudhoyono said figures alleged to be involved in the plot should be suspended to help aid the legal process and cool public tensions about a scandal that has overshadowed the first weeks of his second term. "I think such a high degree of public distrust and mistrust, especially if it continues to spread, is not good," he said at the Presidential Office.

With the scandal threatening to engulf even him, Yudhoyono said he had carried out the recommendations of the fact-finding team.

"For example, when the public started demanding that the officials named in the recordings – or whatever you call the result of that piece of wiretapping – be suspended so that the investigation... could be carried out properly, I had already requested [such an investigation] before the team submitted [their recommendation]," the president said. "The police chief and attorney general will, of course, do [what is expected of them]. It is for the best."

At the House hearing, Bambang said Susno had resigned to allow the investigation to proceed smoothly, but that he would reappoint him if he were eventually cleared.

A visibly shaken Susno told the lawmakers and journalists gathered at the House: "I have gone to the KPK twice, challenging them to interrogate me. I have been investigated by police internal affairs. Nothing was proven."

Separately, Ritonga said his resignation was necessary to rescue the prosecutor's office. "I have examined the situation and came to the conclusion that the best solution to save this institution is my resignation," he said.

Meanwhile, the fact-finding team continues to demand that Anggodo Widjojo, Anggoro's brother and the most prominent figure in the wiretapped conversations, be arrested for allegedly plotting to bribe KPK officials to help his brother.

Lawmakers have also increasingly waded into the scandal, with Commission III members demanding the KPK hand over all wiretapped phone conversations involving Anggodo. They also called on the government to thoroughly investigate the controversial PT Bank Century case, which is deemed to be at the root of the current conflict between the National Police and KPK.

[Additional reporting by April Aswadi.]