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oordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno castigated the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Tuesday for its failure to warn President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo about Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan'€™s track record before Jokowi chose Budi as the sole candidate for National Police chief.

Tedjo '€” the head of the National Police Commission (Kompolnas), an institution whose duties include issuing recommendations on senior police appointments '€” has repeatedly refused to be blamed for his failure to net an untainted candidate for police chief or to spot Budi'€™s suspicious bank accounts.

Budi'€™s nomination has become a hot topic among the general public and public officials since the KPK declared him a graft suspect last Tuesday, just a day before he underwent a screening at the House of Representatives.

'€œIf there is a candidate and the KPK has detected something [wrong] in that person, please do meet the president [to warn him about the matter]. Don'€™t let the president be humiliated by this kind of situation. Just openly tell the president; rest assured that he will take it into consideration,'€ Tedjo said on Tuesday at his office as quoted by kompas.com.

Tedjo later, however, reiterated that the government had no obligation to involve either the KPK or the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) in helping the president to review a national police chief candidate, insisting that the onus was on those two institution to take the initiative.

The KPK should support Jokowi'€™s commitment to creating clean governance by informing him of any allegations against candidates, Tedjo added.

'€œWe need to build communication,'€ he said.

Tedjo has several times asserted that Kompolnas had had no access to the KPK or PPATK to verify the allegations against Budi.

'€œWhere was the failure? I did not know that he [would] be a suspect. I felt that I had already verified [the suspicious bank accounts] through the National Police. I do not have access to the KPK or the PPATK,'€ the coordinating minister said.

Last week, after the House'€™s Commission III overseeing legal affairs approved Budi'€™s nomination following a confirmation hearing, Jokowi announced that he had asked Kompolnas about the suspicious transactions in Budi'€™s accounts. However, the President added that Kompolnas had looked into the transactions and found them to be above board.

A day later, a House plenary session officially endorsed Jokowi'€™s selection of Budi as police chief to replace Gen. Sutarman, despite Budi having been named a suspect in a graft case.

On Monday, Tedjo accused the KPK of '€œseemingly wanting to make Budi fail [in his candidacy]'€, questioning why the KPK had not warned the President before it moved against Budi.

At that time, Tedjo also urged the KPK to respect the government by bring a swift resolution to the case

'€œIf the KPK does have strong evidence, I would like to see it process [the case] as soon as possible, whatever the result,'€ Tedjo said, citing several examples of KPK cases that have been ongoing for a long time, including the Bank Century case.

However, Tedjo has also stated that the decision whether to select a new candidate is entirely Jokowi'€™s prerogative.