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oliticians at the House of Representatives have called for the reinstatement of Brig. Gen. Yurod Saleh as the Corruption Eradication Commission’s (KPK) director of investigations.

The KPK announced they would return Yurod to the National Police, following speculation that he might have had personal ties with graft defendant and former Democratic Party lawmaker M. Nazaruddin.

“We don’t see any reason for the KPK to return Yurod to the National Police because we see that he is the right man in the right place. We will ask KPK chairman Abraham Samad to reinstate Yurod in his post as director of investigations,” lawmaker Nasir Djamil of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) said at the House on Monday.

Nasir said he suspected that Yurod was a casualty of an internal rift within the KPK’s leadership.

“I am afraid that a rivalry, which could affect decisions made by the KPK, is taking place within the antigraft body. The sacking of Yurod is a reflection of this,” he said.

Lawmaker Trimedya Panjaitan of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was the first to question the KPK’s decision to fire Yurod.

“Why should the KPK replace someone like Yurod, who has the capacity to do his job? There must be a hidden agenda behind this. It is just unreasonable because Yurod is young, intelligent and able to perform his duty,” Trimedya said last week during a hearing with the KPK.

KPK deputy chief Bambang Widjojanto denied speculation that the sacking of Yurod was politically motivated, saying that “any final decision to replace KPK personnel would be solely made by the commission’s chairman”.

“We always conduct fit-and-proper evaluations before making any decision,” he said.

Contacted separately, KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said that the agency had yet to make a final decision on replacing investigators.

“The KPK plans to replace three investigators, but I have no information yet on whether Yurod is one of them,” he said.

Yurod was installed as the KPK’s head of investigations April last year.

Speculation was rife that the decision to replace Yurod from his post was due to his close ties to Nazaruddin.

Nazaruddin’s brother, Democratic Party lawmaker M. Nasir, denied the allegation, saying that his brother did not have any relations with Yurod.

National Police criminal investigation division chief Comr. Gen. Sutarman has confirmed that Yurod has now returned to the force, although he declined to give details on the motive behind his return.

“I have no idea why the KPK made the decision. But we welcome the decision, we don’t see any problems with that,” he said.

The Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) applauded the KPK’s plan to replace Yurod as a start toward creating an independent institution.

“Independent investigation has been a problem for the KPK since 2003, and this can be a first step for the antigraft body to be more independent in its investigations. Replacing their director of investigations is a way for KPK to maintain its neutrality,” he said.

He said that what mattered would be investigators’ credentials and not their institutional background, be it the National Police or Attorney General’s Office.