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Indonesian police arrest top anti-corruption official

Bambang Widjojanto, a deputy of Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK)

Indonesian police say they have arrested a deputy head from the country’s top corruption-fighting body after the official implicated a national police chief nominee in a graft case.

Police spokesman Ronny Franky Sompie said Friday that Bambang Widjojanto, one of the deputies of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), has been arrested over an old perjury case.

According to the police, the official  is accused of pressuring witnesses when he was a defense lawyer in a regional election dispute case in 2010.

The arrest comes after the KPK declared the new National Police chief nominee, Budi Gunawan, a graft suspect, announcing that it was looking into a case over 57 billion rupiah (4.5 million dollars) that Budi apparently received from a private company between 2005-2006 when he was head of a police human resource department.

The Parliament, however, endorsed his nomination despite the commission’s claim.

The police spokesman has denied any vendetta against the anti-corruption agency.

Former deputy Justice Minister Denny Indrayana, however, described the arrest as "deplorable and a wrong and a very dangerous move" by the police.

The powerful PKP anti-graft commission has prosecuted former ministers, governors, legislators and central bank chiefs since it started operating in late 2003.

The arrest of the top official in the anti-corruption body is viewed as a test for President Joko Widodo who came to power after promising a campaign of zero tolerance on corruption.

AR/NN


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