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pparently aware that he could be detained, graft suspect and former religious affairs minister Suryadharma Ali declined to comply with the Corruption Eradication Commission'€™s (KPK) summons on Wednesday, arguing that the letter from the KPK had a minor typographical error.

Suryadharma did not comply with the summons only two days after the KPK detained senior Democratic Party politician Sutan Bhatoegana for bribery.

Suryadharma has been accused of rigging the 2012-2013 haj program, worth trillions of rupiah, while he was still religious affairs minister. KPK investigators were close to completing his dossiers meaning that if he had complied with the summons he may have immediately gone to the KPK'€™s detention center.

Suryadharma'€™s lawyer, however, denied speculation that his client did not comply with the KPK summons because he was afraid of being detained.

'€œIt is untrue that my client is afraid of being detained. He is more than ready to face today'€™s questioning, but confusion with the summons letter prevented him from coming. It says he will be questioned as a '€˜witness'€™ in the case but in fact his status is as a '€˜suspect'€™,'€ Andreas Nahot Silitonga told reporters at KPK head-quarters, adding that he had informed the KPK about his client'€™s absence.

The KPK acknowledged that there was a typographical error concerning Suryadharma'€™s status, but it rejected the lawyer'€™s claim that he had informed KPK investigators about Suryadharma'€™s absence.

KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha lashed out at Suryadharma for using the typographical error as an excuse to defy questioning.

'€œWe expected him to come today. Concerning the typo, we have made the correction and will soon send him another letter. [The lawyer] never formally informed us about the absence of his client, we learned about his reason for not coming from the media,'€ Priharsa said.

The KPK has accused Suryadharma of committing multiple offences, including rigging the procurement of pilgrims'€™ transportation, housing and catering services in Saudi Arabia, as well as flying dozens of relatives and confidants to Saudi Arabia using haj quotas intended for pilgrims.

He was also accused of misusing haj funds, all of which accounts for more than Rp 1 trillion (US$79 million) in state losses according to the KPK'€™s preliminary estimation.

Many have speculated that Suryadharma took advantage of the current standoff between the KPK and the National Police, which had taken much of the antigraft body'€™s time and energy.

The KPK is now facing a total paralysis, since its four commissioners were charged with criminal offences after it named Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan a bribery suspect on Jan. 13 at the eleventh hour of his expected inauguration as the National Police chief.

The KPK has failed to summons dozens of police generals and mid-ranking police officers, including Budi himself, to testify in the investigation into the police chief nominee.

Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Corruption Studies Center (Pukat) director Zainal Arifin Mochtar said Suryadharma took his cue from Budi and those police generals who declined to meet KPK summonses.

'€œThose police officers set a bad precedent. Other suspects and witnesses in other graft cases could take it as an example. It is an example of disobeying the legal process,'€ Zainal said on Wednesday.

Indonesian Legal Roundtable (ILR) researcher Erwin Natosmal said Suryadharma had made use
of the weakened position of the KPK that resulted from multiple attacks that it withstood in the current crisis.

'€œHis decision to skip the questioning session was an attempt to show that he is allied with [the police] in promoting the criminalization of the KPK, which could result in the total paralysis of the KPK leadership system,'€ Erwin said on Wednesday.