KPK slammed for questioning budget leaders

Lawmaker Trimedya Panjaitan criticized the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for questioning four leaders of the House of Representatives’ budgetary committee, calling it “degrading”.

“It’s only typical that they’ve launched the strike on the budget deliberations. There should be an appreciation of state institutions,” Trimedya said on Thursday in Jakarta as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

The budgetary committee decided on Wednesday evening to cease deliberations on the 2012 state budget with the government, saying they felt that their authority had been violated by the KPK.

The antigraft body earlier questioned four committee leaders -- Malchias Markus Mekeng, Tamsil Linrung, Mirwan Amir and Olly Dondokambey -- regarding a bribery case allegedly involving several Manpower and Transmigration Ministry officials.

Other committee members have also been implicated in a separate bribery case surrounding a construction project for the upcoming SEA Games 2011.

Trimedya, a senior Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician and member of the House’s committee overseeing legal affairs, dismissed the need for the KPK to delve deeper into the cases.

He also accused the KPK of being “unprofessional” in carrying out its job and deemed his reaction as a constructive criticism for the KPK.

“Otherwise, who else would criticize the KPK? We’re asking them to be professional,” Trimedya said.