An interim chairman of Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPP) on Monday (Nov. 27) has been appointed, after its chief was suspended due to his involvement in an extortion case, Antara News reported.

Nawawi Pomolango was sworn into office at the Presidential Palace, with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo presiding over the oath-taking ceremony.

Menyaksikan pengucapan sumpah jabatan Bapak Nawawi Pomolango sebagai Ketua Sementara Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK) masa jabatan tahun 2019-2024 di Istana Negara, hari ini.

Selamat bekerja. pic.twitter.com/nTXfnUTKrd

— Joko Widodo (@jokowi) November 27, 2023

On Friday (Nov. 24), Jokowi signed a presidential decree to temporarily suspend KPK Chairman Firli Bahuri due to his involvement in an alleged extortion case against former Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo, Tempo reported.

The decree includes Nanawi's appointment as the acting chairman of KPK.

"Nawawi is the most senior among other commissioners so hopefully he has the wisdom that we need and wins acceptance from all KPK employees," said KPK Deputy Chairman Nurul Ghufron, as quoted by Jakarta Globe.

Corruption case in the form of extortion

Last Thursday (Nov. 23), Firli was named a suspect in an ongoing extortion investigation by the Jakarta Police, BBC reported.

According to the Jakarta Globe, Firli was suspected of blackmailing Limpo, who was named a corruption suspect by the KPK and eventually resigned.

Limpo then alleged that the KPK chief had demanded bribes from him, before the former Minister of Agriculture was identified as a corruption suspect and subsequently detained by KPK.

Officers said they found documents of foreign exchange transactions dated between February 2021 and September 2023 involving American and Singaporean banknotes worth 7.4 billion rupiah (S$638k).

Firli, a former police chief, maintained that he had never been involved in extortion or bribery, Reuters reported.

Jakarta police official, Ade Safri Simanjuntak, told reporters last Wednesday (Nov. 22) that there was "sufficient evidence" to name the KPK chief as a suspect in a corruption case in the form of extortion, including the interviews of 91 witnesses.

Not the first

Firli is not the first KPK chief linked to a criminal probe by the police.

In May 2009, Antasari Azhar, then-chairman of the KPK, was arrested and accused of orchestrating the murder of a businessman. He was eventually convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison, but was granted clemency by Jokowi in 2017.

In February 2015, another KPK chief, Abraham Samad, was arrested over alleged document forgery.

The Attorney General's Office in March 2016 decided to drop the criminal investigation against Abraham.

Top image via @jokowi/X.