Indonesia court plays phone tapes in politically charged graft case

Nov 3, 2009, 10:40 GMT

   Jakarta - An Indonesian court on Tuesday played wiretapped recordings of phone conversations allegedly discussing a plot to frame two top anti-corruption commissioners in a case that has implicated senior government officials.

   Anti-graft activists said the recordings were proof of a conspiracy involving senior officials in the Attorney General's Office, the national police and the brother of a businessman who was being investigated on graft allegations.

   The case has become a major headache for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono after one of the people on the tape spoke of presidential support for an effort to weaken the Corruption Eradication Commission.

   Yudhoyono ordered a full inquiry into the recordings and on Sunday set up an independent panel to investigate the case.

   In the wiretapped recordings, a person believed to be the brother of businessman Anggoro Widjoyo discussed ways to save the suspect from prosecution with a senior state prosecutor and police investigators.

   They also discussed evidence of bribery that could be used against commission officials investigating the businessman.

   Police last week arrested Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Samad Riyanto, two of the commission's four deputy chiefs, for allegedly abusing their power and accepting bribes in investigating the graft case involving Anggoro.

   Police made the arrests after local media published the transcripts of the recordings.

   The arrest prompted an outpouring of public support for the two commissioners, who have denied any wrongdoing and claimed they were being framed.

   Hundreds of people on Monday took to the streets of Jakarta and other cities protesting the arrests, and more than 550,000 people have joined a page on the internet networking site Facebook in support of Hamzah and Riyanto.

   Police named them as suspects in September after receiving tips from the commission's chairman, Antasari Azhar - who now faces trial for allegedly orchestrating a murder - that there were irregularities in how the agency issues travel bans.

   Police have denied a conspiracy to weaken the commission, which was created in 2003 to tackle endemic graft with the power to arrest and prosecute suspects.

   It has met with widespread public approval for a series of successful prosecutions against legislators, governors, former ministers, one prosecutor and central bank top officials, including an in-law of Yudhoyono.