"The bribery accusations are libel, they're an illusion," one of two, Chandra M. Hamzah, said Sunday at a conference.

He said that as one of the people who helped establish the anticorruption commission 10 years ago, the accusation was insulting.

"When I became a KPK deputy chairman, my intention was merely to rid this country of corruption, not to seek money," he said.

He added he had so far considered his income from the KPK as being sufficient to provide for his family, calling it "neither abundant nor insufficient".

"With regard to charge of abuse of power, that is legally debatable, and Pak Bibit *Samad Rianto* and I are ready to take responsibility for the decision," he said.

"But as for the bribery charge - that's just libel."

Chandra and Bibit were named suspects last week by the police for alleged abuse of power in imposing and lifting travel bans on graft suspects Anggoro Widjojo and Joko S. Chandra, both of whom remain at large.

Three days later, Chandra and Bibit were suspended from active duty by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, after he issued a regulation-in-lieu-of-law to allow him to directly select their replacements.

The regulation sparked criticism from the public that saw the move as interference in an independent commission.

A day later, the President issued a decree for the establishment of a team to shortlist candidates for interim leadership posts at the KPK.

At Sunday's press conference, Bibit questioned the police's changing of its charges - initially abuse of power, now bribery.

"They also alleged that I, along with Pak Ade Rahardja *KPK director for prosecution* received a Rp 1.5 billion *US$150,000* bribe from Ari Muladi at the Bellagio Residence between Aug. 12 and 18, 2008," he said.

The money was allegedly provided by Anggoro through Ari to get the KPK to halt an investigation into corruption cases involving Anggoro's company, PT Masaro Radiokom.

Ari, alleged to be the middleman between Anggoro and the KPK, has been arrested by the police on charges of extortion and fraud.

"For God's sake, I don't even know where the Bellagio Residence is, let alone went there!" Bibit said, adding he had never met anyone by the name of Ari.

"Besides, at the time they allege I went to the place, I was in Peru on official matters."

Suspended KPK chairman Antasari Azhar, on trial for murder and whose testimony led to the arrests of Chandra and Bibit, said Sunday he made the testimony "on the police's request".

"*Investigators* asked for more details about a meeting between Pak Antasari and Anggoro through a statement, which, according to the investigators, would be used for administrative matters," Ari Yusuf Amir, Antasari's lawyer, said as quoted by detiknews.com.

"Pak Antasari's first report *in July 2009* outlined bribery allegations, but soon after, investigators asked him to add articles on abuse of power."

Ari declined to say whether Antasari had been promised a deal by police to testify against his subordinates.

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