Indonesian police name anti-graft chief as murder suspect

Indonesian police name anti-graft chief as murder suspectJakarta - Hours after being questioned as a witness Monday, the chief of Indonesia's anti-corruption watchdog was named a suspect in a murder case, a police said.

Antasari Azhar, the chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission, was named as a suspect in the killing of businessman Nasrudin Zulkarnaen on March 14, said Jakarta city police chief Inspector General Wahyono.

"Based on strong evidence following his interrogation as a witness, his status was upgraded to a suspect. He will be further interrogated as a suspect," Wahyono told a press conference.

Azhar was put into a police detention centre pending his case being brought into court, MetroTV reported.

Wahyono, who like many Indonesians goes only by one name, said the shooting of Zulkarnaen was "clearly planned," and that several people were involved.

A spokesman for the attorney general on Friday called Azhar one of the masterminds in the murder of Zulkarnaen.

Local media rumoured that Azhar and Zulkarnaen had been involved in a "love triangle" with a golf caddy.

Azhar told a media conference on Sunday he denied the rumours and also denied involvement in the murder case.

Local media reported earlier that two gunmen fatally shot Zulkarnaen, a director of the state-owned pharmaceutical firm Putra Rajawali Banjaran, inside his car after he had finished playing golf in Tangerang, a town west of Jakarta.

The anti-corruption commission, which begun operations in 2003, has been at the forefront of Yudhoyono's campaign to crack down on endemic graft in the country. Several high-profile politicians, central bankers and government officials have been charged and imprisoned as a result of its investigations.

Some experts said Azhar's status as a suspect was a blow to Yudhoyono, a reform-minded former army general who is seeking re-election in the July presidential polls. (dpa)