POLICE ARREST LAWYER AND POLICE INVESTIGATOR OVER GAYUS CASE

Jakarta, March 30 (ANTARA) - Police have arrested a lawyer and a police officer in connection with the challenged tax embezzlement case of tax official Gayus Tambunan.

The national police spokesman, Inspector General Edward Aritonang, said here on Tuesday Haposan Hutagalung, the lawyer, and Commissioner Arafat had been held since Monday night.

Aritonang would not as yet tell about the charges for the two.

He said Hutagalung was the lawyer of Gayus Tambunan from June 8 to September 1, 2009.

But the police did not arrest him "in his capacity as Gayus's lawyer but in connection with an activity that is outside his job as a lawyer," Aritonang said.

He said the activity that led to his arrest was carried out not when he became Gayus's lawyer from June 8 - September 1, 2009.

"The investigators discovered proof that he had conducted actions against the law. Later I will explain about them fully. The process is now still ongoing," he said.

Aritonang also could not as yet tell about the act that had led to the arrest of the police officer.

Before becoming an investigator at the national police unit of criminal intelligence, Commissioner Arafat worked at the Division of the National Police Law Supervision and the Financial Transactions Analysis and Reporting Center (PPATK).

Aritonang said it was not impossible that the result of the investigation on Arafat would implicate other investigators or national police intelligence leadership.

He said the police investigators would keep investigating the case professionally.

Gayus's case came under public spotlight after the police named him suspect in connection with the suspicious account worth Rp25 billion.

Following the irregularities discovered in the investigation of the case the police then set up a special team of investigators.

It was former chief detective Commissioner General Susno Duadji who was the first to disclose the irregularities.