The National Police will have a stronger presence in the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), after two mid-ranking officers secured important posts in the antigraft body, a move that many fear may further compromise graft probes in the future.

On Wednesday, KPK chairman and retired police general Taufiequrrachman Ruki, inaugurated Sr. Comr. Aris Budianto, previously the National Police'€™s deputy director for investigations, as KPK director for investigations, and Tanah Laut police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Setiadi as head of the KPK'€™s legal division bureau.

Ruki maintained that the appointment of the two police officers was based purely on a selection process conducted by an independent team, and that he and other KPK officials did not intervene in the process.

The KPK chairman added that the two police officers should have integrity in their new positions and that they must declare a conflict of interest should they handle any graft cases that had a connection to them.

'€œWe will assess your performance over one year, if there is no sign of improvement then we will return you to [the National Police], but if you are doing well, we will extend your contract,'€ Ruki said at the inauguration ceremony at the KPK headquarters on Wednesday.

Anticorruption activists earlier criticized Ruki for releasing a low-ranking officer, Brig. Agung Krisdianto, despite the fact that he was caught red-handed helping a businessman deliver bribes to a member of the House of Representatives in April. Many suggested that the KPK made the release to avoid conflicts with the police.

In January, the KPK and the National Police were involved in a conflict which resulted in the toppling of two KPK commissioners including chairman Abraham Samad, a situation that forced President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo to appoint Ruki as current chairman.

High-ranking police officer Brig. Gen. Basaria Panjaitan may further expand the police'€™s presence in the KPK should she be appointed as one of five new commissioners for the 2015 to 2019 period in the selection process that is currently underway.

Another controversial decision made by Ruki was transferring the probe of Comr. Budi Gunawan to the Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO), which later forwarded the case to the police where it was terminated.

Attending the ceremony, KPK deputy chairman Johan Budi backed Ruki, saying that there was no special treatment for police members during the selection process as two jobs were open for the public, including officials from the AGO and others.

Johan further said that Setiadi won the post after one of the candidates, an official from the AGO, decided not to take the post.

'€œThere were applicants from the AGO, the National Police and the public. Twelve people from various backgrounds were short-listed, then we brought four candidates to the interview session and pak Setiadi was selected,'€ Johan told reporters.

Antigraft activists on Wednesday criticized the appointment of Aris and Setiadi. They claimed the KPK failed to notice in its background screening that the two police officers were involved in efforts to weaken the KPK during the January standoff, which began after the KPK had named Budi, at that time the sole candidate for National Police chief, a bribery suspect.

'€œIt confirms that the KPK [chairman] is acting as a Trojan horse in the country'€™s efforts to eradicate corruption and the KPK. Their appointment does not make sense,'€ Erwin Natosmal, a campaigner with the Indonesian Legal Roundtable (ILR), said on Wednesday.

After Ruki'€™s appointment in March, antigraft activists displayed a mock Trojan horse at a rally at the KPK headquarters. They demanded Ruki step down after the commission decided to transfer Budi'€™s corruption case to the AGO.

'€œIf we look at the track record of the two, we will see they had a role in the alleged criminalization of KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto, KPK chairman Abraham Samad and KPK investigator Novel Baswedan,'€ Erwin added.
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