Comr. Novel Baswedan, a police officer detailed to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), has struck again.

Novel first came into the spotlight following the raid he led on his fellow officers at the National Traffic Police Corps (Korlantas) last year. The raid ended in a standoff that had to be resolved by the commission’s leaders and National Police chief Timur Pradopo.

The graft buster made headlines again last week, when he led investigators on raids that netted four suspects in a bribery scandal centered on meat imports involving the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

The 36-year-old led the operation resulting in the arrests of meat importing company PT Indoguna Utama directors Juardi Efendi and Arya Abdi Effendi and Ahmad Fathanah, an aide to PKS chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, on Jan. 29.

The investigators confiscated Rp 1 billion (US$103,000) in cash and arrested a naked Ahmad in a hotel room with an also-naked beautiful 20-year-old university student. Ahmad is said to have five wives.

The commission launched a sting operation in the case after finding evidence that the executives wanted to bribe Luthfi to obtain government contracts to be awarded by the Agriculture Ministry, which is led by PKS politician Suswono.

Arresting Luthfi, however, proved to be more difficult. Novel’s team were staked out outside PKS headquarters in South Jakarta, waiting to arrest the party chairman. Investigators were also sent to the homes of Lutfi’s three wives in Kalibata and Kebagusan, South Jakarta, and Kalimalang, East Jakarta.

“A KPK official said that finding [a suspect] who has a wife is hard, let alone one who has three wives,” according to a KPK source who declined to be named to discuss the case.

The KPK detained Luthfi after he arrived to chair a PKS meeting, making him the first active political party leader ever held on criminal charges.

Shocked PKS leaders said that the KPK had made the arrests on the interests of foreign parties. The new PKS chairman, Anis Matta, even said that there was a Zionist conspiracy to destroy the PKS.

Novel was irked by Anis’ accusations, taking to Twitter to rebut the conspiracy theory.

“I and other friends within the KPK are not as bad as some people think: that we can be controlled by other parties or involved in a conspiracy,” he said on Saturday.

Since the National Police seconded him to the KPK in 2007, Novel has received plaudits for running probes that have implicated a host of high-profile suspects.

Among some of major suspects that he has investigated include disgraced lawmaker, Democratic Party treasurer and graft convict Muhammad Nazaruddin; disgraced lawmaker and graft convict Angelina Sondakh; and Nunun Nurbaeti, the wife of former National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. (ret) Adang Daradjatun.

Novel was also on hand for the early-morning arrest of Buol Regent Amran Batalipu in Central Sulawesi in a bribery scandal leading to the conviction of disgraced former Democratic Party top official and business tycoon Siti Hartati Murdaya. He was said to be involved in a hot pursuit of Amran on a motorbike on the streets of Buol before making the arrest.

Novel’s exploits do not end with high-speed chases. In July, Novel confiscated documents that led to the arrest of Korlantas chief Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo, the first time an active duty police general has faced criminal charges in a graft case.

Taufik Baswedan, Novel’s older brother, said that the family always supported Novel’s career, eventhough it might jeopardize his life.

“Every job has its risks [....] For our family, what matters the most is that Novel walks on the right path,” he said over the telephone.

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