Nivell Rayda

Signs from Corruption Eradication Commission supporters outside the National Police Headquarters on Tuesday. (Photo: Afriadi Hikmal, JG)

Legality of Charges Against Indonesia Anti-Corruption Officials Disputed

As the National Police rushed to defend its controversial investigation of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), legal experts and antigraft watchdogs said on Wednesday that police may have exceeded their authority in declaring two senior commission officials suspects in a case of abuse of power and extortion.

Late on Tuesday, the National Police declared KPK deputy chairmen Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Samad Riyanto suspects in violating Article 421 of the Criminal Code and the 1999 Law on Corruption, after 12 hours of questioning. They returned to police headquarters in Jakarta for a second round on Wednesday.

However, police said the alleged violations were in connection with the KPK recommending travel bans against fugitive businessmen Djoko Tjandra and Anggoro Widjaja, rather than allegations they had taken bribes, as had been expected.

Article 421 prohibits civil servants from misusing their authority to either force or prevent someone from doing something, but police investigators didn’t say what the alleged transgressions were.

Eddy Hiariej, a legal expert from Gajah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said the police have misinterpreted the Criminal Code. “The article is not open for multiple interpretations. One substantial element missing from the case is the misuse of power itself,” Eddy said. “The issuance of the travel bans was related to corruption cases investigated by the KPK. The police cannot make a criminal case against the KPK officials for doing their job.”

Hasril Hartanto, a legal expert from the University of Indonesia, said the KPK has the right to request the directorate general for immigration to bar suspects from leaving the country under the 2003 Law on the KPK.

“The KPK has all the necessary legal standing for requesting the travel bans,” he said. “The KPK even has a standard operating procedure for the bans. If police were to make a case out of the bans, they should go to the Constitutional Court and try to have the law annulled.”

The Constitutional Court has heard motions to have the KPK law annulled or reviewed seven times since it was passed and each time the court upheld the law and deemed that it was “aligned with the Constitution.”

On Wednesday, the Indonesian Anti-Corruption Society filed a motion with the South Jakarta District Court to have the charges against Chandra and Bibit dismissed for lack of evidence.

The National Police are investigating testimony that KPK officials accepted bribes from Anggoro in exchange for not naming him a suspect in a corruption investigation. The testimony came from suspended KPK Chairman Antasari Azhar, who has been in police custody since he was arrested in May in connection with a separate murder investigation.

Anticorruption activists claim the police probe and accusations against the two commissioners are nothing more than payback for KPK investigations into National Police officers.

Emerson Yuntho, deputy chairman of Indonesia Corruption Watch, said the National Police filed “ridiculous charges.”