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Credentials and histories of new KPK and police leaders
Jakarta Post - February 20, 2015
Jokowi dropped the nomination of Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, who has been named a bribery suspect by the KPK, as National Police chief and replaced him with police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti, while the President also appointed three acting leaders to replace KPK chairman Abraham Samad and Bambang Widjojanto, who were named suspects by the police just days after the two named Budi a suspect.
While many call the appointments convenient, the track records of the figures are far from spotless. Taufiqurrahman and Indriyanto, for example, are known for their close relationships with the National Police, fanning speculation that the agency will soon drop Budi's case and other cases related to the force and certain political elites.
Indriyanto Seno Adji
His appointment as an acting KPK commissioner surprised the public as he had a track record working as a lawyer in a number of graft cases, including the Bank Century case, which is currently being investigated by the antigraft body.
Recently, he had also been in the spotlight following his comments supporting the controversial decision issued by Judge Sarpin Rizaldi in a pretrial hearing at the South Jakarta District Court, which approved Budi's petition asking the court to declare that his status as a KPK graft suspect as illegitimate.
Despite Sarpin's decision not having been based on the Criminal Law Procedure Code (KUHAP), which grants no authority to a judge to examine someone's legal status through a pretrial hearing, Indriyanto applauded the verdict and considered it "objective".
Indriyanto became an expert witness favored by graft suspects. He was summoned as an expert during the trial of former Constitutional Court chief justice Akil Mochtar, who was later sentenced to life in prison in 2014 for accepting bribes in connection with dozens of local election disputes being adjudicated at the court.
He also appeared as a legal expert during the trial of former Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for graft in 2013.
While teaching at the University of Indonesia (UI) and several other universities, including Krisna Dwipayana University, Indriyanto also wrote a number of books on his expertise in the field of law.
During his profession as a lawyer, he was part of former president Soeharto's legal team when the country's former strongman fought a legal battle against Time magazine, which published an investigative report on Soeharto's family fortune.
He also made headlines in 2010, when Comr. Gen. (ret) Susno Duadji, a graft convict who was tried and found guilty in two corruption cases, revealed in an open hearing in the House of Representatives that Indriyanto worked as the lawyer of two Bank Century owners, Hesyam Al Warraq and Rafat Ali Rizvi, who are currently at large.
Indriyanto has often been invited to be an expert witness to support police investigations, including in the cases implicating former KPK commissioners Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto. Police named both suspects after Bibit and Chandra, along with other KPK leaders, named Susno a suspect.
His presence as an acting commissioner may create a conflict of interest when KPK leaders make a decision on the Bank Century case, which is currently ongoing at the KPK, in the near future. The KPK has said it will determine former vice president Boediono's fate in the Bank Century cause after the Supreme Court upheld the verdict against former Bank Indonesia (BI) deputy governor Budi Mulya in the case.
Taufiqurrahman Ruki
During the recent standoff between the KPK and the police prior to being appointed as acting KPK commissioner by Jokowi, Taufiqurrahman appeared antagonistic by launching strong criticism toward the performance of the KPK during Abraham's tenure and by questioning the KPK's decision to name Budi a graft suspect without first questioning him as a witness.
Unlike two other KPK chairmen, Abraham and Antasari Azhar, Taufiqurrahman finished his tenure as the first KPK chairman, under then presidents Megawati Soekarnoputri and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono between 2003 and 2007, without being prosecuted in a criminal case.
Antasari was convicted of murder after making a bold move to arrest high profile figures, including mayors, a police general, legislators and ministers – even Aulia Pohan, the father-in-law of Yudhoyono's son – while Abraham managed to prosecute Budi and two-star general Djoko Susilo and former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum, as well as pledging to step up an investigation into the Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) case that could implicate Jokowi's patron Megawati.
Taufiqurrahman, in his public comments during the standoff, claimed that his "successful" tenure, which had seen no conflict between the KPK and the police, was due to his leadership capability in harmonizing the two law enforcement institutions, despite the fact that the KPK did not prosecute a single police officer during his tenure. One of his biggest achievements during his four-year leadership was the prosecution of an active Aceh governor, Abdullah Puteh, in the scandal plaguing the purchase of the Mi2 helicopter.
Taufiqurrahman, who has a degree in law, was the best police academy graduate in 1971. Prior to joining the KPK in 2003, he worked at the police corps for around 32 years. He served as KPK chairman from 2003 until 2008. After serving his time at the KPK, he was appointed as a commissioner for state-owned steel company PT Krakatau Steel. In 2009, he was appointed a member of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), from which he retired in 2013. He is currently the commissioner of publicly listed Bank Jabar Banten (BJB).
Many doubt that he would continue the investigation into Budi because of his background as a former police general and because of some of his comments made during the standoff, which tended to support Budi instead of showing support for the KPK in the time of crisis.
"With the public expectations to solve the current standoff being high, I am aware that it is not easy for me to satisfy the public demands, but I am sure the KPK will move forward in eradicating corruption in the country. I appreciate all your support for me," Taufiqurrahman said when asked about his independence in handling Budi's case in the future.
Johan Budi
"The first thing I will do after being inaugurated is to meet with the police chief to solve the standoff," according to the first public statement Johan made after Jokowi announced on Wednesday that he would be among the three acting KPK commissioners.
An alumnus of the UI School of Engineering, Johan, who received a "best practitioner" award from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Public Relations Network and the Golden Speaker award from the Rakyat Merdeka Group in 2013, was among the first batch of officials recruited to join the KPK in 2005.
Prior to joining the antigraft body, Johan worked as an editor at the Forum Keadilan magazine between 1995 and 2000 and then he moved to Tempo daily from 2000 to 2005.
In his first two years at the KPK, he worked in the public relations division before being officially appointed as KPK spokesman in 2007. In October 2014, KPK leaders promoted him to be the deputy for the prevention unit, which was around three months before Jokowi appointed him to be an acting commissioner.
In January, Johan rejected an offer from the State Palace to become a presidential spokesman for Jokowi. Johan said he turned down the job because he wanted to spend the rest of his career at the antigraft body.
Badrodin Haiti
Newly nominated National Police chief candidate Comr. Gen. Badrodin Haiti said that his nomination took him completely by surprise when it was announced by Jokowi on Wednesday.
"I saw my nomination on television. The President and I had never discussed my nomination before he announced it. I was only told that the President would hold a press conference about the tension between the KPK and the National Police," he said on Thursday at his residence.
Now 56 years old, Badrodin has had an impressive track record throughout his career. He was the best graduate in his 1982 police academy class. From then on, the current National Police deputy chief soared up the ranks. Badrodin was the chief of the Banten Police, the Central Sulawesi Police, the North Sumatra Police and the East Java Police from 2004 to 2011 before he became the operations assistant of then National Police chief Gen. (ret) Timur Pradopo.
Badrodin himself said that he had a knack for problem solving and explained that his problem-solving skills might have been the main reason for his recent nomination. "One example was that during my time as the Central Sulawesi Police chief I was able to diffuse the conflicts that were raging in Poso. Hopefully, I will be able to resolve any future problems."
However, his track record is not completely spotless: the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) once accused Badrodin of having committed human rights violations in Poso, Central Sulawesi in 2007 during his tenure as the province's police chief.
Police raids in the area during the prominent sectarian conflicts resulted in the deaths of 110 suspected militants at the hands of the police. However, Badrodin insisted that if the militant groups had not been handled with a firm hand, more civilians would have fallen victim.
Badrodin was also listed as one of the high-ranking police officers who possessed inflated bank accounts, based on a report from money laundering watchdog. "I have also clarified this issue in the past with the PPATK and the KPK are more than welcome to confirm it again," he said.
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