From ABC News. 16/01/2015
Indonesia's national parliament has approved the appointment of a corruption suspect to become the country's next chief of police.
Three-star general Budi Gunawan was put forward as the sole preferred candidate to head the national police force by the country's new president, Joko Widodo.
It was a move criticised as political, given that General Gunawan was a former aide to former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, the head of Jokowi's party.
But the president told reporters on Monday he chose the general on recommendation from the National Police Commission.
Shortly after Mr Widodo named him for the job the country's corruption eradication commission, the KPK, announced that he had been under investigation for six months over suspicious transactions.
"Gunawan has been named a suspect by the KPK for holding suspect bank accounts when he was the chief of the police's bureau of human resources," a KPK official, who declined to be named, said.
KPK chief Abraham Samad said they had been investigating General Gunawan since July last year, but he has not been charged with any crime.
Despite the allegations, General Gunawan has managed to pass a fit and proper test conducted by a committee of parliament, and a majority of parliamentarians voted in favour of his appointment.
When Mr Widodo became president he took the unprecedented step of asking the KPK to vet his cabinet picks, but did not seek similar action for his choice of police chief.
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vr 16 jan 2015 - 1:47