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resident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo to arrest Muhammad Nazaruddin, a day after the Democratic Party legislator was declared a graft suspect by the country’s antigraft body.

“Yudhoyono has issued a direct instruction to [Timur] to hunt, arrest and bring Nazaruddin home from Singapore to undergo legal proceedings at the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission],” Yudho-yono’s spokesman on domestic affairs, Julian Aldrin Pasha, said at the Presidential Palace on Friday.

The instruction was issued after the KPK on Thursday named Nazaruddin — the former treasurer of Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party — a graft suspect in a bribery case surrounding a Southeast Asian (SEA) Games construction project.

Nazaruddin allegedly sought a 13 percent slice of the Rp 191 billion (US$22 million) project for guaranteeing the winning tender for construction firm PT Duta Graha Indah.

The legislator later fled to Singapore a day before the KPK slapped a travel ban on him.

Julian said that before the KPK named Nazaruddin a suspect, Yu-dhoyono had requested the National Police work with the KPK to accelerate the legal process against Nazaruddin after the KPK confirmed
that the case met the legal argument for processing.

“[The public] perception that Yudhoyono has not paid enough attention to the Nazaruddin case is inaccurate,” Julian said.

Timur said the police were ready to help the KPK bring Nazaruddin back from Singapore.

“The KPK has been handling the case. Should it encounter difficulties summoning Nazaruddin, we are ready to step in,” Timur was quoted as saying by Antara news agency in Banda Aceh on Friday.

He added that the police could possibly employ the help of Interpol to track down Nazaruddin.

The Law and Human Rights Ministry is also willing to assist the KPK in the case, but only if the KPK sought its help, Law and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar said.

The KPK, however, said it had not been informed of the instruction.

“I have not heard about the President’s instruction. If it was indeed issued, it would assist the investigation because there would be coordination between law enforcement institutions,” KPK deputy chairman Mochammad Jasin said.

However, Jasin emphasized that to bring Nazaruddin home, the KPK would work with other institutions, including foreign law enforcement bodies.

He did not comment further on details about the cooperation and refused to disclose whether the KPK was in talks with Singaporean officials.

Patrialis said Nazaruddin was not expected to leave Singapore. “There are no signs of this. If there were, we would know,” he said.

Nazaruddin’s lawyer OC Kaligis said his client would not return to Jakarta in the near future, adding that should he return soon, “political maneuvering would take place to immediately silence him”.

Nazaruddin has sent text messages to the media proclaiming
his innocence and accusing Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum and party colleagues
Angelina Sondakh and Mirwan Amir of accepting bribes.

The Democratic Party’s Amir Syamsuddin said the accusations would not hurt the party. “The lesson we learned is that we must be more prudent in our recruitment,” he said.

“If Nazaruddin wants to settle this problem, he needs only to obey the law and show the KPK the evidence he claims to have,” Amir said. “His fear of being silenced is nonsense if he is innocent.” (aaa)