Indonesian Parliament endorses corrupt suspect, Budi Gunawan as new police chief

Indonesia’s House of Representatives has endorsed Comrade General Budi Gunawan as its new Police Chief.

According to a Jakarta Post report, the House gave the endorsement in a plenery session which was chaired by Deputy House Speaker, Taufik Kurniawan.

It was reported that during the plenery session, all 10 factions gave political support to Budi’s nomination. The House gave its political endorsement after the Commission III on law approved his nomination after a "fit and proper" test at the commission on Wednesday.

Following this, Joko Widodo will step in to decide whether Budi would take over the job from Gen. Sutarman, or nominate someone else.

Budi’s nomination was marred with controversy when Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named him as a suspect in a corruption case for allegedly receiving bribes through a suspicious transaction.

Budi was alleged to have received bribes when he headed the Police Headquarters Career Planning Bureau in 2003-2006.

His asset has been estimated at RP22.6 billion.

Budi has been nominated by Joko as the sole candidate to be the next national police chief.