Jakarta. A commissioner of the General Election Commission, of KPU, was arrested on Wednesday on bribery charges.

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Firli Bahuri confirmed the arrest and revealed identity of the suspect by initials.

"We arrested a KPU commissioner, whose initials are W.S. The person who paid the bribe was also arrested," Firli said.

The clue leads to Wahyu Setiawan, one of seven KPU commissioners who also include chairman Arief Budiman, Ilham Saputra, Evi Novida Ginting Manik, Pramono Tanthowi Ubaid, Hasyim Asy'ari and Viryan Azis.

The commissioners were elected by the House of Representatives in 2017 to serve until 2022. Wahyu, 46, previously worked at KPU's provincial branch in Central Java.

KPK deputy chairman Lili Pintauli Siregar said a press conference would be held on Thursday when the KPK would explain every detail of the case. 

As the news broke, KPU chairman Arief Budiman immediately came to the KPK headquarters in South Jakarta in the evening to seek confirmation.

He was accompanied by fellow commissioners Pramono, Ilham and Hasyim.

"In response to the media reports since the afternoon, the four of us decided to come to the KPK to get first hand confirmation," Arief said.

Arief said Wahyu was on an official trip to Bangka Belitung province on Wednesday, departing from the Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang, Banten.

But the plane landed in Belitung without him, triggering speculations that Wahyu was arrested just before the plane took off, he said.

"According to information, Mr. Wahyu was taken out of the plane just before the flight, but I couldn't go into details," Arief told reporters.

He said two other commissioners were also on official trips, leaving only four commissioners at the KPU's headquarters in Jakarta on Wednesday.