TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
In public hearing, panelists grill ‘problematic’ KPK leadership candidates
Committee leader Yenti Ganarsih also asked whether the police's presence in the KPK would weaken the commission since conflicts have often arisen between the two institutions.
Change Size
National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian (left) shares hands with Insp. Gen. Firli during the latter's inauguration as South Sumatra Police chief on June 25. Firli is being probed for an alleged ethics violation while serving at the Corruption Eradication Commission following the finding of a picture in which he was posing on a tennis court with former West Nusa Tenggara governor M.Zainul Majdi, aka Tuan Guru Bajang (TGB). (Antara/Reno Esnir)
S
everal "problematic" Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leadership candidates were given the opportunity to answer and clarify allegations of their troubled pasts during a public hearing in front of the selection committee at the State Secretariat building in Central Jakarta on Tuesday and Wednesday.
National Police deputy chief detective Insp. Gen. Antam Novambar, one of the most controversial candidates, has been accused of intimidating then-KPK law enforcement deputy Endang Tarsa to testify in favor of then-National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, who was tangled up in a graft case in 2015.
During the public hearing, Antam was questioned by committee member Hamdi Muluk on whether he had intimidated Endang at the time.
“I have never threatened Endang. I even brought a witness with me,” said Antam while pointing at a female police officer who he claimed was present during his meeting with Endang at a fast food joint in Ciledug, Tangerang.
Antam believed that Budi, who now leads the spy agency, was innocent when the KPK charged him with graft for having a suspiciously large amount of money in his bank account—known as a “fat bank account”—which the KPK suspected had originated from graft-based transactions.
He said he had decided to meet Endang after being told that the latter had agreed to testify in favour of Budi at court.
“I was ecstatic and promptly agreed to meet Endang. However, several days after the meeting, Tempo magazine reported our conversation and falsely claimed that I had threatened Endang. I was furious when I found out that our conversation was recorded without my consent,” said Antam.
