KPK investigators arrested Nurhadi and his son-in-law Rezky Herbiyono in South Jakarta on Tuesday – roughly six months after both were named suspects for allegedly accepting bribes in the form of nine checks and Rp 46 billion (US$3.2 million) in cash pertaining to three cases handled by the country's highest court between 2011 and 2016.

Many suspect that Nurhadi had been hiding in South Jakarta the entire time, raising suspicions that other parties were involved in protecting him from law enforcement. 

Haris Azhar, the executive director of legal and human rights group the Lokataru Foundation, said the KPK should look into the possibility others had played a role in hiding Nurhadi from the graft busters. Should anyone be found to have done so, the antigraft body could charge them with obstruction of justice, as stipulated in Article 21 of the 2001 Corruption Law. 

"Investigators should reveal whose houses were used [to hide Nurhadi], as well as any persons who assisted, protected or provided him with his daily needs during his time on the run," Haris said in a discussion on Friday.

Former KPK commissioner Bambang Widjojanto echoed Haris' statement, saying Nurhadi was able to move undetected for more than 100 days although he was just "an ordinary civil servant".

"The question is whether he has any extraordinary ability to evade arrest, or was someone in charge of protecting him?" said Bambang.

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