KPK to Report Budi Gunawan Case to President

Jakarta (Antara) - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) will inform President Joko Widodo regarding its decision to name Commissioner General Budi Gunawan, the sole candidate for the national police chief's post, as a suspect in a bribery case. "We will officially convey the result of this investigation to the president and the national police chief," KPK Chairman Abraham Samad stated at the KPK building here on Tuesday. The KPK has named Budi Gunawan as a suspect in a bribery case based on an investigation order dated January 12, 2015. He allegedly received a bribe related to suspicious transactions while he was chief of the career development bureau at the National Police Headquarters during the period between 2003 and 2006. President Joko Widodo proposed the name of Commissioner General Budi Gunawan, who is currently the chief of the national police's education institute, as the sole candidate for national police chief to the House of Representatives (DPR) on Friday (Jan. 9) to replace General Sutarman who will end his tenure in October this year. The president proposed Budi Gunawan's name without obtaining his track record from the KPK and the Financial Transaction Report and Analysis Center (PPATK). "If there are responses from common people about it (the nomination of national police chief candidate), we cannot ban them from having assumptions. But, once again, we would like to clarify that it happened just by chance. It is something normal as we want to uphold the principle of equality before the law," Abraham emphasized. (*)