R

span class="inline inline-left">Ready for grilling: Former head of Korlantas Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo (center) and his lawyers arrive at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) office in Jakarta on Monday. The KPK arrested Djoko for his alleged role in the driving simulator procurement graft case. JP/Wendra Ajistyatama After five months of tug-of-war that involved members of the National Police besieging the headquarters of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the antigraft body has finally detained the main suspect in the driving simulator procurement graft case, Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo.

Djoko is the first active police general to be detained in a graft case by the KPK.

“I underwent questioning today and I will accede to the legal process, including by being detained. Thank you friends,” Djoko told reporters soon before being led to a detainee vehicle that took him to the military-run Guntur prison. Djoko is the first KPK suspect to be detained in the newly renovated detention facility. Speculation was rife that the facility was prepared only for Djoko.

Djoko, however, headed to Guntur prison without donning the KPK’s detainee jacket, which had been specifically designed to have a deterrent effect on future graft suspects.

A group of KPK investigators and prison guards tailed Djoko on a motorcade on his way to the Guntur prison.

The KPK investigators moved to detain Djoko after questioning him for eight hours.

Djoko failed to show up for questioning in late September, but finally met two more KPK summons in October.

“The KPK will detain DS [Djoko Susilo] for the next 20 days at the KPK detention center inside the military prison facility at Guntur, in South Jakarta,” KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said during a press conference on Monday evening.

He said KPK investigators had charged Djoko under Article 2 and Article 3 of the Anticorruption Law, alleging he abused his authority to enrich himself.

A source inside KPK said that before being sent to Guntur prison Djoko and his lawyers requested the KPK to detain him at the detention center of the National Police Mobile Brigade Headquarters in Kelapa Dua, Depok.

Djoko asked the KPK to consider his position as an active police general and begged the KPK to grant his wish.

Juniver Girsang, Djoko’s lawyer, said that his client only wanted the KPK to expedite its prosecution.

“Pak Djoko is ready to follow the KPK’s order and he is willing to undergo the legal process. Now that he is detained, I hope the KPK will expedite its investigation so that my client can get legal certainty,” he said.

Juniver said that during Monday’s questioning, Djoko was only asked about his position and role as the officer in charge of the tender for the driving simulator procurement project.

Juniver said that no substantive questions were asked.

The graft case centers on the procurement of 700 two-wheeled and 556 four-wheeled driving simulators in 2011, which according to initial estimates, caused around US$19.81 million in state losses.

Johan said that although the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) had yet to complete its formal report regarding the exact amount of state losses in the graft case, the KPK estimate put the state losses at $10.4 million.

So far, the KPK has named four suspects in the case, Djoko himself; Brig. Gen. Didik Purnomo, the former deputy chief at the corps; Budi Susanto, the director of the tender-winning company PT Citra Mandiri Metalindo Abadi (CMMA); and Sukotjo S. Bambang, director of PT Invoasi Teknologi Indonesia, a company that was subcontracted by PT CMMA.

The KPK named Djoko a suspect in the case on July 27.

The KPK investigators were only able to question the two-star police general after three months, on Oct. 6.

On Oct. 6, members of the National Police stormed the KPK headquarters soon after Djoko finished being questioned, prompting a standoff that would end with criminal charges lodged against KPK investigator in the case, Comr. Novel Baswedan.

The National Police dropped charges against Novel only after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono intervened on Oct. 8.

In his speech, Yudhoyono also told the police to let the KPK handle the driving simulator case.