JAKARTA. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said on Wednesday that the spreading of intimate photographs showing its chairman Abraham Samad and “Miss Indonesia” pageant winner Elvira Devinamira Wirayanti kissing each other was aimed at hitting back at the antigraft body following its decision to name National Police chief hopeful Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan a graft suspect on Tuesday. KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto said that an examination of the pictures, which were sent to reporters from an email purportedly belonging to Elvira early on Wednesday, had confirmed them to be fake. “We understand that in this kind of situation the KPK always becomes the target of de-legitimation efforts,” he said at the KPK headquarters on Wednesday.
Bambang said that the antigraft body was considering taking legal action to report the incident to law enforcement institutions. However, he further said that he did not want to speculate on who might have been responsible for the alleged retaliation. Separately, Abraham also claimed that the pictures had been edited by irresponsible parties, whose identities he did not disclose.