Camelia Pasandaran – Minister of Home Affairs Gamawan Fauzi is fast becoming a political liability for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, with a spokesman saying on Friday that the president would not protect any ministers involved in criminal cases.

Spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said the president's stance on such matters was "clear". "Those who are involved in crime will be processed according to the existing laws," Julian said. "There is no privilege, legal immunity or protection from the president. The president has total faith in the legal system."

M Jasin, deputy head of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), earlier said that Gamawan – a former West Sumatra governor with his own reputation for fighting corruption – had violated a government regulation prohibiting local officials from receiving extra income.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi, however, told the Jakarta Globe on Friday that the commission had no plans to investigate Gamawan "at the moment."

A 2008 report by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) alleged that Gamawan had received Rp 60 million ($6,400) per year in pretax income as compensation for being an ex-officio member of the consultative leadership board known as Muspida during his term as governor. He received a total of Rp 96 million in 2007 and 2008.

The KPK previously asked Gamawan's ministry, which oversees local government, to annul all regulations that enable governors and other local officials to receive such supplemental salaries. Gamawan has previously argued that the honorariums were legal based on a 1986 presidential decree still in force that governs Muspida payments.

Tama S Langkun, a researcher at Indonesia Corruption Watch, said the argument was baseless. "There are two mistakes he made if we see it from the perspective of the presidential decree," Tama said. "The first, is the governor's decision to distribute the money to people who were not entitled to receive it."

He said that according to the decree only eight Muspida members were entitled to the money – including the governor, local military commander and police chief, as well as the top judicial official – but the honorarium had been distributed by Gamawan to four additional people who were not entitled to it.

Tama said the governor had also misinterpreted the law by distributing the honorariums to Muspida members. "In the decree, the money is suppose to be for administrative costs, not honorariums," Tama said.

Gamawan could not be contacted for comment. He said recently that he only followed the lead of other provinces and argued that Muspida members in other provinces earned more.

"The BPK did not ask for the salaries to be returned, so we didn't [return them]," he added. "The BPK, however, did suggest that the salaries be proportional to the amount of work that the Muspida had done. So that's what we did."