Nivell Rayda – Although President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's fact-finding team lacks legal authority, the National Police and the Attorney General's Office should follow whatever recommendations it comes up with today, including dropping the case against the two suspended anticorruption commission leaders, activists and experts said on Sunday.

The police and AGO have been reluctant to drop abuse of power and extortion charges against Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah, the suspended deputy chairmen of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). This was in defiance of the team's findings last week that there was no hard evidence to make a case.

Police and the AGO have both repeatedly said that the team "had no authority to intervene in the ongoing legal process."

The team, nicknamed the Team of Eight, was set up by the president early this month amidst wide public protest against Bibit's and Chandra's arrest. The team was tasked with analyzing the handling of the case and was scheduled to give recommendations to the president today.

Although declining to divulge any details, team members on Sunday said the recommendations would reflect the team's earlier stance that there was insufficient evidence.

Hasril Hertanto, a legal analyst at the University of Indonesia, said there should be no reason for the AGO and the police to ignore the recommendations.

"The president as head of state could instruct members of his administration to follow the recommendation," he said.

"The team's initial findings could be seen as a warning that if the case goes to trial, [police and the AGO] would lose and thus the credibility of both institutions would be jeopardized, especially amidst a widely accepted theory that there is a plot to undermine the KPK."

This month, the nation was mesmerized at a live television broadcast of a session at the Constitutional Court, at which a total of 67 recordings of wiretapped conversations between a businessman and several law enforcers were played.

The recordings point to an attempt to fabricate testimony to support claims that the KPK commissioners had received bribes and resulted in massive public protests directed at the National Police and the suspension of two senior police officers.

Topo Santoso, another legal analyst from the University of Indonesia, said the recordings had put more pressure on Yudhoyono and his cabinet to follow recommendations from the fact-finding team.

"The recordings are so vivid and vulgar, showing that the case is fabricated. Whatever arguments police and the AGO might have in proceeding with the case would not be accepted by the people," Topo said. "Police and the AGO have no choice but to drop the case."

Although the president could opt not to follow the recommendations, University of Indonesia political analyst Rocky Gersung said doing so would be political suicide.

"The team was formed by Yudhoyono, and consists of credible and independent legal experts and practitioners. Establishing such a team already indicates that there is something wrong with the police's handling of the case," Rocky said.

"If Yudhoyono ignored the team's recommendation people might see the formation of the team as nothing more than a strategy to appease a disappointed public," he said. "Yudhoyono has no choice but to instruct his cabinet to follow the recommendations."