BUMN WATCH ASKS YUDHOYONO TO SEEK CLARIFICATION FROM KPK

Jakarta, Nov 1 (ANTARA) - The State Enterprises (BUMN) Watch suggested Sunday that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) seek clarification from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on the recent detention by police of its two suspended commissioners.

President Yudhoyono should ask clarification not only from the national police chief and the attorney general but also from the anti-graft body, BUMN Watch chief Naldy Nazar Haroen said.
Yudhoyono needed to ask KPK about various issues such as the circulation of a transcript of a tapped phone conversation containing engineered materials aimed at criminalizing the KPK commissioners, Naldy said.

In addition, the president also needed to ask the KPK why several interim KPK leaders had threatened to resign following the detention of the two suspended KPK leaders, he said.

"The active KPK leaders should give a press conference like what the national police chief has done so that the public will not get confused and consequently, come to wrong decision," he said.

The presence and credibility of KPK should be maintained because it is the only agency expected to combat corruption in the country, he said.

"If all interim KPK leaders are to resign, the KPK's image will increasingly be tarnished," he said.
On Oct 29, police detained Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra Hamzah who had previously been named suspects for alleged abuse of authority over the issuance of a travel ban on businessman Anggoro Widjojo and also the issuance of a travel ban and later its revocation for businessman Djoko Tjandra.

The arrest has drawn mixed reactions. Many saw the case as the result of a rivalry between the KPK and Police. Earlier, over the investigation of its deputies, the KPK accused the National Police`s chief detective, Commissioner General Susno Duaji, of carrying out nonprocedural examinations, and the police had thus acted against the two KPK vice chairmen on trumped-up charges.

The House of Representatives said recently it will invite the national police chief to explain the police's detention of the two suspended KPK commissioners. ***4***
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