Indonesia anti-graft officials arrested in criminal probe

Oct 29, 2009, 10:24 GMT

   Jakarta - Indonesian police on Thursday arrested two deputy chairmen of the country's powerful anti-corruption body in a politically-charged criminal investigation.

   Police charged Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Samad Riyanto, two of the four deputy chiefs of the Corruption Eradication Commission, with abuse of power and extortion in investigating a corruption case involving a businessman.

   'Today we are putting the two suspects in custody,' National Police Deputy Chief Detective Dikdik Mulyana Arif told a news conference.

   The two could face six years in jail if found guilty.

   Police took action after the commission's chairman, Antasari Azhar, allegedly told investigators that his deputies accepted bribes from a businessman who is a suspect in a corruption case.

   Azhar has been in police detention since May for his alleged involvement in a murder case.

   Anti-graft activists said the probe against Hamzah and Riyanto was part of a systematic effort by forces within the police and the Attorney General's Office to undermine the commission following a series of successful prosecutions against high-profile figures.

   Local media have in the past week published transcripts of alleged taped conversations between senior state prosecutors, police officers and the brother of the businessman subject to the commission's probe in which they discussed a plot to frame the two commissioners.

   The commission's acting chairman, Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean, has told reporters his office was in possession of a tape that could prove that there was a conspiracy to put Hamzah and Riyanto behind bars.

   One of the alleged plotters spoke of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's support for attempts to remove the two commissioners.

   Yudhoyono, who was sworn in for a second term in office on October 20, has ordered a full investigation and his adviser called reference to the president's support as 'a lie.'

   National Police chief Genenral Bambang Hendarso Danuri and Attorney General Hendarman Supandji have cast doubts on the authenticity of the transcripts.

   The anti-corruption commission was created in 2003 to tackle endemic graft with the power to arrest and prosecute suspects.