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lawyer representing former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Abraham Samad and investigator Novel Baswedan has lashed out at the Attorney General's Office (AGO) and the National Police for putting the two'€™s criminal cases in limbo, with no sign of their trials commencing any time soon.

The AGO confirmed on Sunday that it once again was forced to send back the dossiers of Samad and Novel to the National Police after its prosecutors found that police had failed to submit evidence to back up their accusations against the two KPK personnel.

Lawyer Bahrain said that the back and forth exchanges of his clients'€™ dossiers to and from the AGO and the National Police had shown that the police had failed to build strong cases against Abraham and Novel, who were believed to be facing prosecution as an act of revenge following the KPK'€™s decision to launch a bribery investigation into high-ranking police officer Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan in January.

The police named Abraham a suspect in an abuse of power case, which many see as an ethical matter rather than criminal offense, for allegedly meeting with Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto to discuss his possible candidacy as the party'€™s vice presidential candidate in 2014, while the police reopened an assault case against Novel, a case that had been closed in 2012.

The police also declared another KPK commissioner, Bambang Widjojanto, now suspended, a perjury suspect during the standoff.

'€œIf the back and forth means that the police are able to not find strong evidence to back up their claims then the AGO should exercise its independency to halt the investigation by declaring the two cases not fit to be tried,'€ Bahrain of the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

'€œSuch a move is wiser than pursuing cases that are not suitable to be tried in court. We all knew how Abraham and Novel were charged,'€ Bahrain added.

Bahrain also lambasted the National Police for ignoring the KPK'€™s request to postpone their investigation into Abraham in a move to allow an internal committee at the KPK to investigate whether the suspended KPK chairman had violated the code of ethics as accused by the police.

'€œIn addition to Novel, due to his status as a former police member, KPK leaders had sought confirmation from the National Police, at that time led by Gen. [ret.] Sutarman, regarding his legal status. Sutarman said that his predecessor Gen. [ret.] Timur Pradopo had dropped his case in 2012 and that was why the KPK approved Novel'€™s proposal to become a KPK investigator,'€ Bahrain said.

Bahrain said he was surprised to learn that the National Police, under the tenure of current chief Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti, reopened Novel'€™s assault case when the KPK and the National Police were involved in a standoff in January.

Contacted separately, AGO spokesman Tony Tubagus Spontana confirmed that AGO prosecutors had returned Abraham and Novel'€™s dossiers to the National Police.

'€œ[The AGO returned both dossiers] before the Idul Fitri holiday [on July 17]. It'€™s true that this is not the first time we returned their dossiers to the police,'€ Tony told the Post on Sunday.

Tony rejected the suggestion that the criminal cases of Abraham and Novel were not suitable to be sent to the court for trial as deemed by many law experts.

The spokesman did not answer whether the AGO had sent Bambang'€™s dossier to the Central Jakarta District Court for trial or if it had returned it to the National Police like it did with Abraham and Novel'€™s dossiers.

Bambang, who along with Abraham signed an investigation warrant against Budi in January, has been accused of encouraging perjury when he served as a lawyer adjudicating a regional head during a trial on a regional election dispute at the Constitutional Court in 2010, one year before Bambang was named KPK commissioner in 2011.