The demand was accompanied by a warning that a group of the Indonesian Army (TNI) personnel might collectively visit the KPK building located at Jalan Kuningan Persada No. 4, Setia Budi, South Jakarta.

The meeting between Puspom TNI and the KPK leadership took place at the KPK building last Friday afternoon. During the meeting, Agung Handoko and his delegation visited the anti-corruption commission.

The delegation included the Head of TNI Legal Affairs, Rear Admiral Kresno Buntoro; Deputy Attorney General for Military Criminal Affairs, Major General Wahyoedho Indrajit; and TNI's Auditor General, Rear Admiral Nazali Lempo.

Apologies ensued imminently

After the meeting, one of KPK leader Johanis Tanak held a press conference at the KPK building. Tanak offered an apology to the TNI Commander for the arrest operation (OTT) in the alleged bribery case at Basarnas, which implicated two TNI officers.

"Here, there were mistakes and errors made by our team during the arrest," said Tanak. "In the meeting, we have conveyed to our TNI counterparts that we hope they can convey our regret to the TNI Commander and TNI leadership for this error, so that we can be forgiven."

Not to protect but out of mutual respect

Agung also emphasized that their objection was not to protect TNI members from their wrongdoing. "It's about mutual respect. Both TNI and KPK have their own rules," he said. "So, in our view, the action taken by the KPK to name military personnel as suspects is against the regulations."

Three days before the army expressed their objection, the KPK team conducted a series of arrests. They apprehended 12 individuals, including the Administrative Coordinator of Basarnas, Lieutenant Colonel Afri Budi Cahyanto. A day later, Deputy Chairman of the KPK, Alexander Marwata, held a press conference.

Alexander announced the five suspects involved in the alleged bribery case. They were the Head of Basarnas for the period 2021-2023, Air Marshal Madya Henri Alfiandi; Afri Budi Cahyanto; Chairman of PT Multi Grafika Cipta Sejati, Mulsunadi Gunawan; CEO of PT Intertekno Grafika Sejati, Marilya; and CEO of PT Kindah Abadi Utama, Roni Aidil.

The three individuals from the private sector were allegedly involved in bribing Henri and Afri with IDR 5 billion in three procurement projects at Basarnas.

Henri and Afri were also alleged to have received bribes totaling IDR 88.3 billion from various vendors since 2021. These payments were suspected to be a 10% commission from the project contract value, referred to as "command funds."

Coordination had been conducted

According to Alexander Marwata, before declaring the suspects, the KPK had coordinated with Puspom TNI.

A representative from Puspom TNI was also present during the briefing on the arrest operation at the KPK last Wednesday. Alexander explained that there were no objection for Puspom TNI regarding the crime. In addition, Alexander said that Puspom TNI had no objection if KPK mentioned the names of TNI personnel as suspects.