National Police Commission: Nothing Wrong With Budi
Jakarta. A top cabinet minister on behalf of the National Police Commission on Monday insisted that Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan was "a clean figure," even as the country's prominent anti-graft watchdog named the National Police chief candidate as a suspect in a corruption case.
"We respect all legal processes involving the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission] -- we just had a meeting discussing the KPK's decision," Tedjo Edhy Purdijanto, the chairman of the police commission and also the coordinating minister for legal, political and security affairs, told a press conference several hours after the KPK's announcement.
Tedjo said that the police commission had previously submitted to the president nine good candidates for his consideration.
"There are nine people at the National Police with three stars that are eligible for the chief position. Everybody in the list was clean according to the National Police Commission and we have clarified that with the National Police," said Tedjo. "Regarding B.G. [Budi Gunawan], the National Police Commission received a written letter from the National Police stating that he's a clean figure."
In 2013, Tedjo noted, the National Police investigated Budi — as he was also a candidate for the position then — and "there was no problem with him at that time."
The minister added that the police commission was ready to give the president another name, depending on the decision of the House of Representatives on Budi's nomination.
"We'll need to wait first whether the House accepts [Budi] or not [as the new chief of National Police]," said Tedjo.
Budi's fit-and-proper test at the House is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.
The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) in 2010 released a report of several police generals with suspiciously hefty bank accounts, and Budi was on the list. But police have since claimed that the suspicion against Budi had been cleared following internal investigations as a follow-up to the PPATK finding.
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