Chiefs called to powwow in Cikeas by President

nstead of meeting his fact-finding team on the corruption scandal, the President on Monday summoned the chiefs of intelligence and National Police, and the Attorney General, to his private residence.

However all were tight-lipped on what transpired in the meeting lasting over two hours with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Cikeas, near Jakarta.

Yudhoyono had met with National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji, and State Inteligence Agency (BIN) head Sutanto.

The President’s meeting with his fact-finding team was delayed again until Tuesday. The team headed by top lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution was given two weeks until Sunday to probe an alleged plot against deputies of the country’s antigraft body, the powerful Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

High-ranking police officers and prosecutors have been implicated in the scandal, following the live broadcast of a wiretapped conversation at the Constitutional Court.

Conversations involving high-ranking law enforcers were broadcast from an open hearing, as part of evidence presented by the KPK deputies who filed for a judicial review regarding their suspension.

The President’s summoning of the three senior state officials, and later in the evening of Vice President Boediono, is believed to have something to do with the latest developments in the saga of the police and AGO versus the KPK.

The team has revealed their preliminary conclusions and recommendations, that the police drop the charges of bribery and extortion against the deputies, Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah, for lack of evidence.

In a separate case, a court hearing on a murder case, in which the defendant is the KPK’s former
chairman, Antasari Azhar, revealed a testimony by a former police precinct chief that he had been allegedly pressured into “framing” Antasari.

The scandal overshadowed the country’s positive image as the President was hailed for Indonesia’s breakthrough in fighting graft, at the recent regional meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Coopera-
tion forum in Singapore over the weekend.

On Monday, one of the team members, Paramadina University rector Anies Baswedan, said the team was upholding “ethical principles” in its decision to only inform the public of its recommendations after handing over the report to the President.

Another team member, senior lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, said he believed Yudhoyono would not neglect the team’s recommendations.

“I believe the President will scrutinize the contents of our report and our recommendations. I also believe that he will see the case as a mere tip of the iceberg, with many more things yet to be discovered,” Todung was quoted as saying by kompas.com.

“Corruption eradication is part of the Yudhoyono-Boediono administration’s agenda. I believe the President will take the necessary measures to settle these kinds of critical situations,” he added.

Todung had earlier said the team aimed at legal reform beyond the current KPK scandal, which emerged barely a month after Yudhoyono began his job as the country’s first-ever directly re-elected president.