T

he National Police retracted on Monday their earlier statement and said instead that they would not release the name of a Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leadership candidate that they had named as a graft suspect last week.

Monday'€™s announcement followed earlier reports that National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti had reprimanded National Police detective division (Bareskrim) chief Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso and director of special economic crimes at Bareskrim Brig. Gen. Victor Edison Simanjuntak for publicly saying that they wanted to reveal the name of the suspect on Monday.

'€œNo one will announce the [name of the KPK candidate] suspect today,'€ Badrodin told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Badroddin said that the police investigation into a KPK leadership candidate was not intended to hamper the ongoing selection process conducted by an independent team established by President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo in June.

'€œWe just checked the backgrounds of the KPK candidates as requested by the selection committee, and we will let the team decide whether it wants to use our recommendation or not,'€ Badroddin added.

Badroddin further indicated that the National Police would not announce the name of the suspect to the public, as they will leave it to the independent team to do so. The police had notified the team on Friday regarding their investigation into the KPK candidate.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan backed the move by the police to withhold the name of the candidate in question.

'€œI think if there is a suspect, then it is the right of the National Police [to launch an investigation] and whether to announce the name or not,'€ Luhut said at his office after holding a meeting with Badrodin and other ministers who come under the authority of his ministerial office on Monday.

On Sunday, the team said that it had picked eight names out of 19 candidates who had undergone interviews and medical examinations, to be submitted to the President on Sept. 2. It explained that none of the eight names picked by the team for the final list to be submitted to Jokowi belonged to the candidate mentioned by police on Friday.

Friday'€™s move by the National Police echoed the experience of former candidate for police chief Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan when the KPK named him a bribery suspect one day before his confirmation for the position of National Police chief.

Budi now serves as the National Police deputy chief after his candidacy was annulled due to his graft suspect status.

The team said that it would announce the names of the eight people after it meets with Jokowi on Sept. 2. It will then take Jokowi two weeks to decide if he approves the team'€™s selection before submitting the names of the eight people to the House for a '€œfit and proper'€ examination.

Asked whether the National Police delayed the announcement on Monday to buy time while waiting for the team to reveal the final list of names on Sept. 2, Badrodin replied, '€œwe will see'€.

The selection team said they had yet to reveal the final eight candidates to any parties, including the police, pending the delivery of the list to the President.

The team'€™s spokesperson Betti Alisjahbana said that the State Palace had rescheduled the Sept. 2 meeting to Sept. 1 on Tuesday.

'€œWe just received information that the President will receive us tomorrow [Tuesday] at 10 a.m.,'€ Betty told the Post on Monday.

She said that the team hoped none of the eight candidates will be named as suspects by law enforcement institutions, including the National Police, after the team submits the names to the President on Tuesday.