Police move on with Chandra, Bibit cases

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 11/10/2009 3:01 PM  |  National

The National Police are continuing legal proceedings to resolve the alleged criminal cases involving suspended deputy chairmen of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) despite a temporary recommendation from the government-sanctioned fact-finding team to drop the case due to lack of evidence.

The police spokesperson Insp. Gen. Nanan Soekarno said Tuesday his office had received dossiers on suspect deputy leader Chandra M. Hamzah, returned from the Attorney General's Office (AGO) bacause of insufficient evidence.

“The AGO has asked us to add more witnesses so that we can hand over the case to the court,” Nanan said as quoted by kompas.com.

This is the second time the AGO has returned Chandra's dossier citing lack of evidence. The AGO itself is still reviewing the dossier of another suspect, deputy leader Bibit Samad Rianto.

Both Chandra and Bibit are suspects in a case of alleged abuse of power and extortion involving graft suspect Anggoro Widjojo.

Nanan said his office's decision to move on with the cases was for the sake of legal certainty.

“This does not mean we are arrogant. But because we have a responsibility [to solve the cases],” he said.

Yesterday, the team said that the police lacked evidence to prove the transfer of money from Anggodo Widjojo, the brother of Anggoro, to the KPK leaders.

The team added that the imposing and lifting of travel bans on people allegedly involved in graft cases had been standard procedure in the KPK. (ewd)

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