AGO officially drops Bibit, Chandra cases

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) on Tuesday officially dropped investigations into criminal allegations against suspended deputy chairmen of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah.

On arrival at South Jakarta Prosecutors' Office, the two leaders received warrants to end the legal proceedings surrounding their cases.

Bibit said he was thankful for the warrant.

“I expect there will be [better] harmony between the KPK, the AGO and the National Police in eradicating corruption,” Bibit said, as quoted by Antara state news agency.

Chandra said he was very grateful for the recommendations of the fact-finding team, claiming there was not enough evidence in either case.

The police had accused both Bibit and Chandra of having misused their power, after they imposing and lifted travel bans on graft suspect Anggoro Widjojo and businessman Joko Tjandra.

They were also suspected of having received bribes Rp 2.5 billion (US$ 263,000) from Anggoro, to halt the KPK ‘s investigations of an alleged graft case at the Forestry Ministry, which had also involved Anggoro.

The AGO dropped the investigations following the emergence of wide public criticism against the charges, and a common belief that the pair had acted only in their legal capacity as members of the judiciary. (ewd)