Gecko and Crocodile Are Best of Friends, Coos Deputy Police Chief
Jakarta. National Police deputy chief Badrodin Haiti said on Friday afternoon that there was no political motivation for the arrest of KPK deputy chief Bambang Widjojanto.
Instead, he said, the belated arrest in a case dating back to 2010 was a result of the police following correct investigatory procedures and because they had only just gathered all of the necessary evidence.
"It's because we just found enough evidence," Badrodin said when asked about the timing of the arrest.
Bambang was arrested on Friday morning over his role as lawyer of Kotawaringin election candidates during an election-dispute hearing at the Constitutional Court in 2010. Bambang allegedly pressured witnesses to give false testimony during the trial, which then led to the candidates from Central Kalimantan winning the case.
Badrodin said that someone had recently reported the case again to the police. The police then used the old case file as supporting evidence to reopen the case.
"I don't see his or her political party affiliation, only the person," Badrodin said when reporters asked whether the report came from someone in the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
A police document seen by the Jakarta Globe indeed lists Sugianto Sabran, a politician from the PDI-P, as the complainant. Sugianto lost the Kotawaringin district head election in 2010 to the candidates supported by Bambang.
Badrodin called on the public to not see the case in the context of the KPK naming National Police chief candidate Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan a suspect three days after his nomination by President Joko Widodo.
Relations between the KPK and the police were fine, he said.
"Institution-wise, there is no problem between the National Police and KPK," he said. "There is no friction."
Separately, National Police spokesman, Insp. Gen. Ronny Sompie said on Friday said that Bambang Widjojanto was free to file a pre-trial motion against the National Police’s crime investigation unit if he believed his detention was unjustified.
“If he thinks that this is not fair, that the arrest was unprofessional and against the law, he can file a pre-trial motion,” Ronny told Indonesian news portal Tempo.co.
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