F

ormer National Police chief detective Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji may face a disciplinary and ethical tribunal following his alleged unauthorized testimony at a court hearing in a murder case.

"The trial will be open *to the media*," said Insp. Gen. Oegroseno, head of the National Police's Internal Affairs division, on Friday.

He said the tribunal would still have to wait for the result of a fact-finding team led by the police's general monitoring inspector, Comr. Gen. Nanan Sukarna.

The team comprises several National Police generals, including the head of the legal division, Brig. Gen. Budi Gunawan and Oegroseno.

"Now the team is looking for evidence and will request immediate clarification from Susno," Oegroseno said.

Earlier, National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said he had given the team a tight deadline to settle the case.

"I expect the team will be able to handle this case no longer than a week," he said.

Susno's appearance Thursday at the South Jakarta District Court to testify in Nasruddin Zulkarnaen's murder case sparked controversy among his colleagues at the National Police headquarters as he attended the trial to defend the former chief of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Antasari Azhar.

Antasari is a defendant in the trial for allegedly masterminding the murder.

National Police chief spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang earlier said it should be highlighted that Susno had attended the trial without receiving permission from his superior, the current National Police chief.

"It looks as if there might be a violation of the police code of ethics," Edward said.

Commenting on this, Susno said he had asked for permission from the National Police chief through his adjutant.

"I sent him a short text message informing him that I would be attending the trial," he said as quoted by news portal detik.com.

Besides, Susno continued, there were no internal regulations within the National Police that would prohibit members from performing a civic duty such as standing as tes-tifying in a trial.

"Therefore, how did I violate the regulations?"

On the day Susno appeared at the court to present his testimonies, the National Police headquarters decided to retract all facilities Susno had received.

The facilities included an official vehicle, adjutant and guards for Susno's private residence.

Edward said those facilities were for the position of chief of detectives, which was held by Susno until his dismissal on Nov. 24.

The retraction should be viewed as a normal procedure because Susno was no longer detective chief, Edward said.

"We will give him different facilities, of course, because he is still one of the police's most high-ranking officers but it will be different to those he received as detective chief."

Susno was removed following strong public pressure after he was implicated in a plot to frame KPK deputy chairmen Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah.

Susno was also implicated in the Bank Century fiasco by guaranteeing the withdrawal of funds owned by Boedi Sampoerna.

A presidential fact-finding team on the alleged framing of Bibit and Chandra recommended the removal of all implicated officers if found guilty.

Neta S. Pane of the Indonesian Police Watch said standing as a witness in the trial could be interpreted as a manifestation of his dissatisfaction towards the police organization.

"As a three-star general, once he was removed from his old post as detective chief, he should have received a post of a similar level at the National Police headquarters."

"But what we have witnessed here is that he was left with no post. This would have been quite embarrassing for a man of his caliber."

As a senior general, Susno was among the candidates to be National Police deputy chief to replace Comr. Gen. Makbul Padmanegara.

Neta said the National Police chief should have been more sensitive about this.