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Top graft buster Novel Baswedan under attack again
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Anticorruption activists carry a banner that reads "One eye lost, millions of others scrutinizing" during a rally at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in South Jakarta on Aug. 9. They demand that President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo establish an independent fact-finding team to help investigate the acid attack against senior KPK investigator Novel Baswedan, whose eyes were severely injured in an acid attack in April. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
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op Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigator Novel Baswedan continued to face opposition on Wednesday following an acid attack on the graft buster in April, as another allegation of defamation was lodged against him.
Sr. Comr. Erwanto Kurniadi, the National Police’s corruption department deputy director, filed a report against Novel for allegedly defaming the force in a statement published by a media outlet earlier this year.
The move was made only weeks after a similar report against Novel was filed by his direct superior at the KPK, Brig. Gen. Aris Budiman, for allegedly insulting the latter via email.
Apparent conflict between the police and Novel, who resigned from the police force in late 2014, has escalated in the past couple of weeks, particularly when Aris attended a House of Representatives’ inquiry meeting last week and signaled at an internal feud in the KPK.
Read also: EDITORIAL: KPK's lonely battle
Aris, KPK director of investigations who is a police general seconded to the antigraft body, is facing an internal ethics investigation for attending the meeting without consent from the KPK’s leaders who oppose the inquiry, which they deem to be another attempt to undermine the KPK.
“As of now [Wednesday afternoon], there have been two reports filed against Novel, including the one from Erwanto,” Jakarta Police special crimes unit head Sr. Comr. Ade Deriyan said, confirming the two reports filed with his office.
