National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri finally broke his silence Friday on the antigraft fiasco, saying the charges against two suspended Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputies were not fabricated.
"We're handling this case by the book, so there's no such thing as fabricating or criminalizing or the like," he said at a press conference.
"None of that's true, that's what I need to underline here."
Notably absent at the press conference was National Police chief detective Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, who was reportedly wiretapped by the KPK demanding money from Bank Century executives, during a probe into the Century scandal.
Susno was also absent Thursday when police announced the arrest of the two suspended KPK deputy chairmen, Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah.
Bambang refused to entertain questions on Susno's absence or details of the case against the two deputies.
"Let the judges at the court decide whether there has been any engineering *of the charges* in this case," he said.
The KPK deputies were arrested Friday for abuse of power in issuing and then lifting travel bans on corruption suspects Anggoro Widjojo and Djoko S. Tjandra.
Both remain at large.
Bibit and Chandra are also accused of extorting and receiving bribes from Anggoro to halt an investigation into a graft case implicating his company, PT Masaro Radiokom, as well as of influencing public opinion on their case.
Their arrest immediately prompted noted public figures to step forward and vouch for the two deputies in a bid to get them released.
The KPK also filed Friday a request with the National Police to postpone the arrest of two deputies.
Bambang said the bribery accusations were based on testimony from former KPK chairman Antasari Azhar, who is standing trial for masterminding the murder of prominent businessman Nasruddin Zulkarnaen.
"When we investigated and arrested *Antasari*, he testified about the Rp 5.1 billion *US$530,000* of money *being paid* to KPK deputies," Bambang said.
He added Antasari had filed a report on the case with the Jakarta Police on July 6, and the case was then handed over to the National Police on Aug. 7.
Antasari previously said through his lawyer he was coerced by police into filing the report.
Bambang also said police would confiscate a voice recording believed to reveal an apparent conspiracy by the Attorney General's Office (AGO) and police to frame Bibit and Chandra on trumped-up bribery charges.
On Thursday, the Constitutional Court ordered the recordings be presented at a hearing next Tuesday. Bambang said police would wait until after that to confiscate the recording.
The hearing is part of Bibit and Chandra's request for a judicial review of an article stipulating KPK chairpersons or deputies must be discharged from their position if they stand trial in a criminal case.
The court has agreed to delay the implementation of the article, which means the two deputies will still keep their jobs until the court has issued a final ruling in the judicial review.
Commenting on the growing tensions raised by the apparent witch hunt against antigraft officials, presidential adviser Adnan Buyung Nasution said if police were really sure they had enough evidence to support the allegations against Bibit and Chandra, they should have taken the matter straight to court.
On Friday evening, police transferred Bibit and Chandra to the Mobile Brigade detention center in Kelapa Dua, Depok, just south of Jakarta.
