T

he National Police'€™s detective division chief, Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso, has revealed that some of the candidates for the next batch of Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leaders are under police investigation for criminal offenses.

Budi also warned the government-sanctioned team tasked to select the new KPK commissioners that it should weigh its options carefully as it could end up electing individuals who would be subject to criminal prosecution in the future.

'€œWe have named one of [the 48 candidates] a criminal suspect just two days ago,'€ Budi said, declining to disclose if the suspect was among the 19 candidates currently still in the running.

Budi denied that the police'€™s latest move was aimed at interfering in the committee'€™s work in deciding who would be on the shortlist of candidates for the next batch of KPK leaders.

He said that investigations into the candidate had been ongoing and that both National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti and the committee had been informed about the progress.

'€œI will not intervene [in the selection]. We have already [told the committee] about the cases that we suspected would move on from a preliminary investigation to the next stage and even about [the candidates] who may be named suspects. We have nothing to hide,'€ he said.

He said that the police force was being prudent in handling the case.

'€œI am not waiting for the [suspect] to become a KPK leader [before naming him a suspect]. I have no problem with the committee selecting [the suspect] as long as no one accuses the police force of criminalization in the future when we make our next move. Everything I investigate has a factual basis.'€

Budi then urged the committee to consult with the National Police if it was unsure about any of the KPK candidates'€™ track records.

Meanwhile, the selection committee'€™s spokesperson, Betty Alisjabana, confirmed that the suspect was among the 19 candidates still in the running.

She said that the candidate had made it into the top 19 because the committee only became aware of the police investigation in the past few days.

'€œWe only found out after the tracing their track record and only confirmed it after getting clarification. This [information] just recently came in,'€ Betty said.

Although she declined to divulge the candidate'€™s identity and the crime the candidate allegedly committed, she said that the committee had already decided not to include the individual on the final list of eight names to be presented to President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo.

'€œWe definitely will not pick the individual'€™s name,'€ Betty said.

Another member of the committee, Yenti Garnasih, told reporters before meeting with Budi at the National Police headquarters that the candidate in question had not yet been named a suspect when the police handed over reports from their background checks.

'€œMaybe when [the reports] were submitted, [the candidate] had not been named a suspect yet because there might have only been one piece of evidence, and the police now have two [required pieces of evidence]'€ she said.

Separately, House of Representatives deputy speaker Fadli Zon said that the police were in a position to assess the candidates'€™ backgrounds.

'€œWe have to look at the context '€” corruption eradication is not merely the responsibility of one institution like the KPK, especially since it is an ad hoc body. We also have to [strengthen] the police and prosecutors,'€ Fadli told reporters on Friday.

He said the KPK, the Attorney General'€™s Office and the police should take into consideration the fear that gripped government officials who thought they could be easily prosecuted or criminalized.

Meanwhile, lawmaker Benny K. Harman from the Democratic Party faction at the House said that the 19 candidates picked by the selection committee were disappointing.

Benny, who is deputy chairman of House Commission III overseeing legal affairs, said the low quality of candidates resulted from flawed methods used by the committee.

'€œKnowledge is not any more important than integrity. What we need is a method that the selection committee can use to gauge a candidate'€™s integrity '€” which we have not seen,'€ he said on Friday.