Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) has urged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to, within two weeks, declare Anggodo Widjojo a suspect for attempted bribery or for obstructing investigations.
"An insider told us the paperwork for Anggodo's suspect status was complete, but we do not know why it has not been processed," ICW deputy coordinator Emerson Yuntho said Friday.
The KPK had strong evidence and witnesses, he said. "It is now up to the officials in charge of the investigations to decide whether or not to name Anggodo suspect," he said.
Anggodo, a brother of corruption fugitive Anggoro Widjojo, allegedly played the main role in an attempt to frame two KPK deputies, Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah, for charges of abuse of power, bribery and the extortion of Anggoro.
Anggodo's role was detailed in wiretapped recordings of telephone conversations between him and middlemen and several senior officers of the National Police and the Attorney General's Office (AGO). During the conversations, Anggodo assigned specific roles to police, prosecutors and witnesses to play so the deputies would be incriminated convincingly.
"We fear this case has been obstructed by KPK officials, because many of them are from the police and the AGO," Emerson said.
Emerson urged KPK investigations director Suaedy Husein to name Aggodo suspect within two weeks.
"Otherwise, he would be better off resigning to show he is responsible," he said. "Second, we will file a lawsuit against the KPK if it does not make any moves in this case within two weeks."
Emerson said he suspects the director, a police officer, to have a conflict of interest in this case, because it could implicate several of his colleagues and superiors, including former National Police chief of detective Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji.
In the wiretapped conversations Susno was mentioned several times by Anggodo and those he spoke to, implying that Susno also played a role in the attempt to frame the deputies.
Susno also admitted to a presidential fact-finding team to evaluate the Bibit and Chandra case that he had met Anggoro in Singapore even though he knew the KPK had named Anggoro a suspect in a corruption case at the Forestry Ministry.
Emerson was concerned that police officers embedded in the KPK could interfere with investigations of the Anggodo case. "Efforts to weaken the KPK do not necessarily have to come from outside the commission," he said.
He urged KPK leaders to be firm with this case. "If there are officials who try to obstruct the case, they must be kicked out of the KPK," he said.