Police Deny Arresting Susno Duadji

Police denied on Monday they had arrested former National Police chief detective Commissioner General Susno Duadji saying they took him to the National Police’s profession and ethics division (Divpropam) building for questioning.

"There was no arrest. The truth is that Divpropam officers have taken Pak Susno," acting chief of the National Police Headquarters’ public relations division Zulkarnaen said.

A middle-ranking officer of the National Police’s profession and ethics division told ANTARA earlier in the day Susno was arrested when he was about to leave for Singapore without permission from his superior.

After being taken from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta international airport the three-star general underwent questioning at the National Police’s profession and ethics division building, Zulkarnaen said. Susno underwent normal questioning on Monday night and was not detained, Zulkarnaen said.

According to him, the former National Police chief detective was questioned for allegedly violating police’s discipline under Government Regulation No. 2/2003.

"Article 6 sections B and C of the government regulation stipulates no police officers are allowed to leave their work site without permission from their superior," he said.

Susno recently revealed a conspiracy in the police force behind the alleged money laundering case of tax staffer Gayus Tambunan leading to the arrests of several suspects including some police officers.

The chief of the Presidium of the Indonesian Police Watch, Neta Pane, confirmed that Susno was detained when he was about to leave for Singapore for a medical checkup. Pane said he had last met with Susno on Sunday in a dialogue forum in Jakarta.

At the time, he said Susno looked unhealthy. "Yesterday he was coughing and looked tired," he said.

Susno was once questioned by the national police’s profession and ethics division for being absent from his job for three months. But he refused to be questioned for the second time arguing the order to question him was legally flawed.