T

he National Police will question suspended Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) commissioner Bambang Widjojanto as a suspect for the second time on Tuesday at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta.

'€œHe will be questioned on Tuesday for the second time since he was first named a suspect on Jan. 13,'€ National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said on Monday.

Bambang'€™s questioning has resumed despite the two institutions'€™ vow last week to mend ties allegedly strained by the KPK'€™s move to name previous police chief nominee Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan a graft suspect.

Rikwanto added that a KPK investigator, Novel Baswedan, would also be questioned as a suspect on Tuesday for an assault case that allegedly occurred in 2004 during his tenure as the Bengkulu Police'€™s detective division chief.

Former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had requested in 2012 that Novel'€™s case be postponed because of a heated conflict between the police and the KPK that arose when the antigraft body named police general Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo a graft suspect.

Rikwanto added that the Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO) had already declared Novel'€™s case dossier complete. This has led to some speculation that Novel will be detained after Tuesday'€™s questioning and subsequently handed over to the AGO to prepare for his trial.

The police declared Bambang Widjojanto and fellow suspended commissioner Abraham Samad as suspects just days after the KPK named Budi a bribery suspect, resulting in their automatic suspension in line with the 2002 law on the KPK. They were recently replaced by Taufiqurrahman Ruki, Indriyanto Seno Adji and Johan Budi.

Bambang was accused of perjury in a 2010 regional election dispute at the Constitutional Court, while Abraham was accused of forging citizenship documents.

The head investigator of Bambang'€™s case, Sr. Comr. Daniel Bolly Tifaona, said that investigators had collected strong evidence and statements from 46 witnesses against the former deputy chairman.

'€œWe won'€™t be detaining him after we have finished questioning him, but he has already been prohibited from traveling abroad,'€ he said, declining to describe what questions would be asked of Bambang.

Daniel also expressed confidence that the Bambang'€™s case dossier would be submitted to the AGO next week to be reviewed.

On Sunday, National Police detective division chief Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso said the police force would not drop Bambang or Abraham'€™s cases and their suspensions would not affect the investigations.

Current commissioners Zulkarnaen and Adnan Pandu Praja also had police reports filed against them last month. However, neither have been named a suspect as the investigators were still gathering evidence.

Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said that he had not yet received news that the AGO had declared Novel'€™s case dossier complete.

The police force'€™s determination to continue investigating the KPK members'€™ cases has led to protest from civic groups. On Monday, members of several different civic organizations met with National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti to demand the cases be dropped.

'€œWe asked the police deputy chief to drop the cases and to explain to us how criminal cases would be investigated in the future ['€¦] We'€™re worried because if you can prosecute KPK commissioners, think about how easy it would be to prosecute [rights] activists and citizens,'€ Haris Azhar, of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said after the meeting.