Police chief visits KPK amid graft allegation

JAKARTA. National Police chief Gen. Sutarman made a visit to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) headquarters on Thursday, only days after a dossier from the antigraft body had revealed his alleged role in the Hambalang graft case.

A KPK case dossier on Sylvia Sholeha, also known as Ibu Pur, a close friend of First Lady Ani Yudhoyono, detailed the roles of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s cousin, Widodo Wisnu Sayoko, and Sutarman, who in September was the President’s sole choice for the top police post.

According to the document, Sylvia told KPK investigators that in 2010 she had asked Sutarman, who was then the Jakarta Police chief, to protect the Youth and Sports Ministry from the threat of NGOs that opposed the construction of the Hambalang sports complex in West Java.

KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said, however, that Sutarman’s visit to the antigraft body’s headquarters was not in connection with the allegations, but rather just a courtesy call to introduce newly installed high-ranking police officials.

Johan said that in their meeting with the KPK leadership, Sutarman did not discuss issues related to graft cases and instead focused on how to build synergy between the two institutions.

“We have started talking about [forming] a joint team, and about strengthening [both institutions] as well. If the KPK handled cases in regions where there is a shortage of investigators, then those cases could be reported to the police or to the Attorney General’s Office,” he said.

Newly appointed National Police criminal investigations division (Bareskrim) chief Comr. Gen. Suhardi Alius, who also attended the meeting at the KPK headquarters, said that the National Police and the KPK had made a pledge to work together to fight corruption.

“We will join hands in combating corruption in the country,” he said.

The relationship between the two institutions reached a new low last year, when the police fought the KPK’s investigation into the driving simulator procurement graft case, in which the KPK named then National Police Traffic Corps (Korlantas) chief Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo a suspect.

Sutarman, who was known to have opposed the KPK’s move to prosecute Djoko, openly challenged the KPK investigation.

Many believed that Sutarman was behind a police “raid” on KPK headquarters aimed at arresting Comr. Novel Baswedan, a KPK investigator who spearheaded the arrest of Djoko.

Sutarman, then Bareskrim chief, denied that the operation was a raid, saying that the police were just trying to coordinate with KPK investigators regarding a murder case that allegedly involved Novel.

Johan said the Thursday meeting was brief. He also said that Sutarman entered and exited the KPK headquarters through the back door.

Suhardi, meanwhile, entered and left the building through the front door, prompting speculation that Sutarman was trying to avoid reporters wanting to question him on his alleged role in the Hambalang project graft case.

Johan said that there was nothing unusual about Sutarman leaving through the back door. “A lot of guests use the back door,” he said. (Hans Nicholas Jong)