Jakarta - Indonesian prosecutors Tuesday dropped criminal charges against two deputy chairmen of the country's anti-graft commission in a case many saw as a conspiracy to weaken an anti-corruption drive. Police accused Bibit Samad Riyanto and Chandra Hamzah, two deputy chairmen of the Corruption Eradication Commission, of extorting money from a businessman who was the subject of a graft investigation.
The case sparked a public outcry after wiretapped conversations involving a businessman, police and prosecutors revealed an apparent attempt to frame the two commissioners.
Under intense pressure, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asked police and prosecutors not to bring the case to court, saying such a move could spark social unrest.
South Jakarta prosecutors' office handed a letter declaring the charges have been dropped to lawyers representing Riyanto and Hamzah.
"Our clients never did what investigators have accused them of doing," said a lawyer for the two, Taufik Basari.
Taped recordings played in a televised court hearing last month revealed apparent evidence of a plot to frame the commissioners involving a prosecutor, police investigators and the brother of a businessman who was the subject of a corruption probe.
The autonomous commission, set up in 2003 to fight corruption in one of the world's most graft-prone nations, has the authority to arrest and prosecute. It has been widely praised by the public for a series of successful prosecutions of high-profile offenders.
Legislators, governors, former ministers, businessmen, one prosecutor and top central bank officials have been jailed by a special corruption court.
