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ormer Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor Miranda S. Goeltom has reason to be afraid of her first questioning session as a suspect on Friday.

A host of graft suspects have previously been detained after questioning just before the weekend begins.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named Miranda a suspect in the 2004 vote-buying scandal centering on her selection as a central bank deputy senior governor in January, but has yet to interrogate her. The KPK has not detained her, saying that Miranda has been cooperative during the investigation.

Hundreds of travelers’ checks worth Rp 20.85 billion (US$2.21 million) were distributed to dozens of lawmakers by business executive Nunun Nurbaeti to swing the vote for Miranda. Nunun is now serving a four-year prison term in the case.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi, however, said that the KPK would not act based on superstition.

“There is no such thing as the KPK’s ‘sacred’ Friday or ‘spooky’ Friday for graft suspects,” Johan said on Thursday. He said that it was purely a coincidence that a large number of graft suspects had been detained on Fridays.

“As for Miranda, I haven’t got any information on her [potential] arrest,” he said.

“But yes, KPK will question her as a suspect on Friday.”

He also shrugged off speculation that the KPK chose Friday to avoid too much political pressure or to avoid too much coverage from the media.

Others have speculated that KPK chairman Abraham Samad might have been responsible for choosing Friday as the best day to detain graft suspects. Abraham is a devout Muslim who once represented Muslim groups during his stint as a lawyer in Makassar. Friday is considered a good day in Islam.

Under Abraham’s leadership, there more graft suspects have apparently been detained on Fridays.

For example, KPK investigators detained former Cilegon mayor Aat Syafaat hours after his first questioning as a suspect on Friday last week. In April, he was named a suspect for embezzlement in a fictitious land acquisition for the Kubangsari port in Serang.

Toshio Shiokawa, the Japanese director of PT Onamba Indonesia, was also locked up on a Friday afternoon, May 11, after seven hours of questioning concerning an out-of-court settlement of a lawsuit involving his company.

Democratic Party lawmaker and former beauty queen Angelina Sondakh spent her first night at the new detention block at KPK headquarters on Friday, April 27, hours after her first questioning session on her role in the bribery scandal centered on the SEA Games athletes’ village construction project in South Sumatra.

A week earlier, the former head of Health Ministry’s health crisis response center, Rustam S. Pakaya was detained after he was named a suspect in the dubious procurement of medical equipment.

After several hours questioning session on March 30, KPK investigators arrested Semarang Mayor
Soemarmo Hadi Saputro for allegedly initiating a scheme to bribe local councilors in relation to discussions over the 2012 local budget.