REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chief Abraham Samad stated on Wednesday that pictures showing him and a beauty queen in romantic poses are not real.
"This is a gossip deliberately spread to assassinate my character and criminalize me," he said in a text message on Wednesday (14/1).
One of the three pictures distributed through e-mails shows Abraham Samad kissing the girl.
The same e-mail has mentioned the name of the girl as Elvira Devinamira who is a 2014 Indonesian beauty queen born in Surabaya, East Java, on June 28, 1993, and a law student of state Airlangga University.
Elvira and Abraham met at an Election Integrity Program event on March 8, 2014.
According to Abraham, the distribution of the pictures is connected to his recent announcement naming national police chief candidate Commissioner General Budi Gunawan a suspect in a corruption case.
"This is very likely related to it," he said.
The KPK on Tuesday named Commissioner General Budi Gunawan in a case for allegedly receiving rewards or pledges through suspicious transactions.
The KPK has charged Budi Gunawan with allegedly violating some articles in Law Number 31 of 1999 changed into Law Number 20 of 2001 on corruption eradication.
If proven guilty, Budi Gunawan may serve a life sentence or four to 20 years in jail and a fine of Rp1 billion.
Budi Gunawan (56), who had been the adjutant of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, is currently chief of the Police Education Institute.
President Joko Widodo recently proposed his name for national police chief and has been awaiting parliament approval.
Despite the KPK naming Budi Gunawan in a corruption case, the House of Representatives went ahead with tests required of candidates for national police chief. It will decide whether or not to approve him as national police chief by Wednesday afternoon.
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