Jakarta – Responding to mounting public concerns over a conflict of interests in its acceptance of US$14 million from US mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia, the National Police has again denied the issue.

On Wednesday, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution refuted earlier statements by legal experts, who said that receiving funds from Freeport, amounting to Rp 1.25 million (US$140) per officer per month, was strictly illegal for the National Police, which should only receive funding from the central administration.

"From our perspective, there was no legal violation," Saud, a former chief of the National Police counterterrorism unit, said as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Saud cited Presidential Decree No. 63/2004 on the National Police in charge of the security of national vital objects and Energy and Mineral Resources Ministerial Decree number 1762/2007, which stipulates that PT Freeport is a national vital object.

He then added that according to National Police decree No. 736/2005, the costs of securing national vital objects can be charged to the party whose assets are being secured. "That means police should not allocate funding to officers who are assigned [to the PT Freeport area] because the company has already allocated funds for them," he said.