Nat'l Police to provide legal aid for Susno

The National Police will provide legal aid for former chief detective Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji in his appeal of a recently-issued court verdict declaring him guilty of corruption.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bahrul Alam said on Monday that legal aid would be given because it was compulsory for the National Police to do so for active members undergoing legal processes.

Anton said his force assigned two high-ranking officers to be Susno's lawyers.

“[Because Susno] is a high-ranking officer at the National Police, we also have the obligation to provide him with a team of lawyers,” he said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

The team would be headed by Brig. Gen. RM Panggabean and Brig. Gen. Iza Fadri from the National Police's legal division. Anton said the team would cooperate with Susno's personal lawyers.

The South Jakarta District Court sentenced Susno last week to three and-a-half years in prison for taking bribes and misappropriating election security funds – cases brought against him after he leaked information of corrupt practices involving the tax office, the National Police, the Attorney General’s Office and numerous domestic and foreign companies. He immediately vowed to appeal the verdict.