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Chemotherapy prevents arrest of West Bandung regent by KPK
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Surrounded: West Bandung Regent Abu Bakar (center) gives a statement to journalists at his home in Lembang, West Java, on Tuesday. (Antara/Raisan Al Farisi)
T
o:p>The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) says it has not yet arrested West Bandung regent Abu Bakar, who is implicated in a graft case, because he is undergoing chemotherapy.
A joint team of KPK investigators and police personnel were waiting for the regent to complete his chemotherapy session at Borromeus Hospital in Bandung, West Java, the antigraft body said in a statement on Wednesday.
“Out of compassion, our team has decided not to [bring] the regent to Jakarta last night [Tuesday evening]. Therefore, we asked the regent to sign a letter as the basis for conducting an initial questioning at his home,” KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah said in Jakarta.
He said the commission had called on all doctors currently handling Abu Bakar’s medical treatment to do their job professionally. It also urged any parties not to obstruct its investigation into the graft case.
In the same case, the KPK arrested six other government officials suspected of bribery on Tuesday.
Abu Bakar, an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician, has served as the regent since 2008 and is currently in his second term in office, after he was reelected in 2013.
As of today, the KPK has conducted eight operations across Indonesia to arrest state officials allegedly connected to graft cases.
The latest operation was on March 12, when KPK investigators arrested several officials of the Tangerang District Court, including judge Wahyu Widya Nurfitri and clerk Tuti Atikah, for alleged bribery related to a civil case. (ebf)
