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.

“I think the pictures have been edited. People take pictures with me at many public appearances,” said Abraham.

The email address purporting to be that of the pageant winner sent three pictures to reporters along with a summary of information about the 21-year-old Elvira, who was crowned in 2014. However, the email did not provide any caption or clear description of the pictures and it also did not explain what kind of relationship Abraham had with Elvira.

On Tuesday, the KPK slapped corruption charges on Budi, who was recently nominated by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo for the police chief position despite the KPK’s earlier confirmation that the three-star general had cropped up in its graft investigations, just one day prior to the House of Representatives Commission III overseeing law and legal affairs was to hold a confirmation hearing for his nomination on Wednesday.

The KPK’s move will likely cause the cancellation of his nomination as a police chief candidate. As of Wednesday the President had yet to decide whether to cancel Budi’s nomination. (Haeril Halim)

Editor: Hendra Gunawan