T

he National Police have given the green light for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to further investigate the alleged involvement of a Jakarta-based police officer in a high-profile bribery case involving ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Adriansyah.

Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said the National Police appreciated the KPK not charging Brig. Agung Krisdianto after he underwent intensive questioning at the KPK headquarters on Friday night, but the police would have no problem should the KPK wish to proceed against Agung at a later date.

'€œWe respect the ongoing investigation at the KPK,'€ Rikwanto told The Jakarta Post on Sunday when asked about whether the National Police would allow the KPK to collect more evidence to charge Agung, adding that Agung'€™s status remained a witness in the case.

The antigraft body has been strongly criticized after it decided to release Agung without charge despite his alleged role as a middleman, delivering money from businessman Andrew Hidayat to Adriansyah on the sidelines of the PDI-P'€™s national congress in Bali, where President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo and party chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri were present.

In addition, Rikwanto said the National Police would also launch an internal investigation to confirm whether Agung had violated the police code of ethics in his role in the case. '€œHe will still be processed internally. He went to Bali without permission from his superiors. He will receive sanctions for his actions,'€ Rikwanto said.

Antigraft activists decried the KPK'€™s decision to release Agung, claiming that the antigraft body had lost the courage to prosecute police officers following a conflict over the naming of Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan a graft suspect in January, which cost the commission two of its commissioners after they were in turn named suspects by the police. Several KPK officials also reportedly received threats from '€œunidentified people'€ in the course of the conflict.

Separately, KPK acting chairman Johan Budi denied it had lost the nerve to act against the police corps, saying the KPK would not drop Agung from the case and that it had scheduled interrogations for him in the near future.

Johan said the KPK would charge Agung in the case if investigators found new evidence following his questioning or from other witnesses in the future. '€œThe real matter is not as simple as the allegation. At that time we had limited time of only 24 hours to question him after the arrest but we could not find enough evidence during the session. Let'€™s see whether we can garner new evidence from [later questioning and] other witnesses,'€ Johan said.

Agung'€™s release is in contrast to the earlier stance of the KPK, which is now led by acting chairman and former police general Taufiequrrachman Ruki, when all middlemen caught during sting operations were charged.

The KPK named go-between Deviardi a suspect 24 hours after arresting him delivering bribes from a businessman to former Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas) chief Rudi Rubiandini in 2013. The Jakarta Corruption Court later sentenced Deviardi, who was a company executive, to four-and-a-half years in the case.

Lawyer Susi Tur Andayani was also arrested and declared a suspect after the antigraft body arrested her for handing a bribe from a regent over to former Constitutional Court chief justice Akil Mochtar. Susi received seven years behind bars in that case.

The KPK also prosecuted Toto Hutagalung for delivering bribes from former Bandung mayor Dada Rosada to Bandung District Court deputy head Setyabudi Cahyono in a bid to get the former mayor cleared of abuse of power relating to the embezzlement of social aid funds handled by the city administration.

However, KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha said that it was not wise to compare '€œone case to another due to the special characteristics of each case.'€

'€œEvery case is different. In this case [Agung'€™s], we could not find enough initial evidence to declare him a suspect during intensive 24 hours of questioning,'€ Priharsa said.