Anti-Corruption Chief Linked To Murder

The head of Indonesia's powerful anti-corruption commission has been arrested as a suspect in a murder investigation.
Antasari Azhar, head of the Corruption Eradication Commission, is being questioned by police after being put on temporary leave.

He has denied reports he was involved in the shooting of businessman Nasrudin Zulkarnaen in March this year.

But the announcement that Azhar is one of several suspects in the killing has shocked Indonesians and dealt a blow to the agency, known as the KPK.

The commission has been at the forefront of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's fight against graft in a country ranked as one of the world's most corrupt.

Earlier, Azhar insisted he had been summoned to police questioning as a witness and not as a suspect.

"My status remains as a witness as stated in the letter from the police," said the 56-year-old, speaking outside his home in Tangerang, west of Jakarta.

His wife Ida Laksmiwati said: "Threats are in my daily diet. I'm not surprised at all at what's been reported. I still trust my husband. It's just another form of terrorising."

Mr Zulkarnaen, director of state-owned pharmaceutical firm Putra Rajawali Banjaran, had been a witness in a corruption case investigated by the agency.

He was shot by two gunmen as he left a golf club.

Several high-profile politicians and officials, including some from the attorney general's office, have been charged and imprisoned as a result of the KPK's investigations.

The KPK said Azhar's four deputy chairmen will take over his duties.

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