Heru Andriyanto, Farouk Arnaz & Nivell Rayda

Anticorruption protesters demonstrating in front of the Corruption Eradication Commission headquarters in Jakarta on Tuesday. (Photo: Rosa Panggabean, Antara)

Indonesia Transfers Top Detective as Tide Turns in Corruption Saga

A day after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the nation he believed the case against two suspended deputy chairmen of the Corruption Eradication Commission should not be taken to court, the tide began turning in favor of the embattled antigraft officials.

The National Police’s controversial chief of detectives, Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, who has been at the core of friction between the force and the antigraft body, also known as the KPK, was removed from his post as part of “routine” promotions and retirements among the police’s top brass announced late on Tuesday.

Susno was replaced by Insp. Gen. Ito Sumardi, an adviser to the National Police chief and former police chief of Riau and South Sumatra. National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Nanan Soekarna, who made the announcement, said Susno had been reassigned to serve as a “senior official” at the National Police headquarters, although his particular responsibilities have not been disclosed.

The news was welcomed by activists, who had long called for Susno’s removal following the release of wiretapped tape recordings implicating him in a plot to frame two KPK officials — Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M Hamzah — for corruption.

“This is a normal promotion in the context of tour of duty and tour of territory. It may also accommodate the president’s instructions for a repositioning,” Nanan said.

When addressing the nation on Monday evening, Yudhoyono had also asked the police, the Attorney General’s Office and the KPK to correct problems within their respective institutions.

Susno had just been reinstated last week after being temporarily suspended to allow questioning by a presidentially appointed fact-finding team looking into the case against the KPK officials.

The AGO also indicated on Tuesday that it would follow Yudhoyono’s advice and drop plans to prosecute Chandra and Bibit, but Attorney General Hendarman Supanji said it may take two weeks to decide whether to pursue the cases in court.

“The president has asked that the cases be settled out of court, but any settlement must be based on the existing laws,” Hendarman told reporters. “The [district] prosecutors will define whether or not we have a case. If the answer is no, they will propose in stages to the provincial office and the AGO to drop it. So we can’t answer immediately. There is a legal process for that.”

Police have already submitted the case dossiers of the two KPK officials to the AGO, with Bibit’s revised dossier handed over by the police earlier on Tuesday.

Police officials said they had no legal reason for not submitting the case to the AGO, which they said would have to decide whether to proceed.

After the president’s speech on Monday night, Marwan Effendy, the deputy attorney general for special crimes, said prosecutors would declare the case submitted by the National Police to be complete but not worth pursuing.

“The crime did exist, but it is just not worth trying,” he told the Jakarta Globe.

Luhut Pangaribuan, a lawyer for Bibit and Chandra, said that although he understood there was an administrative process within the AGO, he regretted that it would continue to drag on.

“We appreciate that the AGO interpreted the president’s remarks correctly, but Chandra and Bibit’s case must be dropped immediately,” he said. “The president issued an order, but the fact is the case is still being investigated and my clients are still criminal suspects.”

Indonesia Corruption Watch chairman Danang Widoyoko said Yudhoyono should have clearly stated, not just suggested, that the cases be dropped.

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