REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The detention of the non-active chief of the national anti-graft agency, Abraham Samad, has been cancelled, the police confirmed here on Wednesday (29/4).
"(Samad's detention was cancelled) because he was cooperative," Head of the Public Relations Division of the National Police (Polri) Inspector General Anton Charliyan said at the Polri Headquarters.
He added that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the police had come to an agreement to improve relations between the two law enforcement agencies following the recent conflict between them.
"There is a greater interest to be kept in mind. It was done to prevent the possibility of the Polri being pitted against the KPK. The police do not wish to prolong the conflict either," he remarked.
On Tuesday evening, investigators of the South and West Sulawesi Police Command issued a warrant to detain Samad after he was questioned as a suspect in an alleged case of forgery of a residential document belonging to Feriyani Lim in 2007.
Later, the KPK leadership contacted Polri Chief General Badrodin Haiti to demand that his detention be canceled.
"The KPK leadership contacted the national police chief and asked him to facilitate the cancelation of Samad's detention by the South and West Sulawesi Police Command, after taking several aspects into consideration," he revealed.
Furthermore, acting commissioner of the anti-graft body Indriyanto Seno Adji said that Samad's detention had been cancelled to build a network of communication between the police and KPK.
"Building institutional communication between the Polri and KPK was among the aspects taken into account," he affirmed.
Samad was named as a suspect by the police after the KPK named Commissioner General Budi Gunawan as a suspect in a case of corruption.
Due to his status as a suspect, President Joko Widodo decided to cancel Gunawan's candidacy for the post of the national police chief and named Badrodin Haiti as the new candidate instead. Meanwhile, Samad had been made a non-active chief.
Later, a court revoked Gunawan's status as a suspect with a ruling that said the KPK's move to name him as a suspect was illegitimate.
President Joko Widodo later appointed Haiti as the new national police chief, who then inaugurated Gunawan as his deputy following a selection process by the national police's ranks and the career development council.