JAKARTA - Hours of wiretaps aired yesterday on Indonesian television appeared to bolster claims of brazen corruption involving key law enforcement officials, putting pressure on the President to defend his anti-graft credentials.

In conversations released at the Constitutional Court, prominent members of the Attorney General's office and police force were linked to bribes involving hundreds of thousands of dollars, Mercedes Benz cars, and a plot to frame two members of the Corruption Eradication Commission in a fabricated extortion case.

Indonesia is often ranked among the most corrupt countries in the world, but rarely have such secret dealings of law enforcement officials been publicly revealed.

The wiretaps were played as the court heard a case dealing with the legality of the suspension of commissioners Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Samad Riyanto, whose arrests last week escalated a battle between the leading graft-busting agency, known by its Indonesian acronym KPK, and rival police and prosecutors.

The case poses a serious challenge to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who won re-election in July on his reputation as a clean operator and democratic reformer.

In one of the most notable segments during hours of phone conversations between July and September, the brother of a fugitive corruption suspect, businessman Anggoro Widjojo, allegedly discussed paying off Deputy Attorney General Abdul Hakim Ritonga and dividing 7 billion rupiah ($976,000) between police and prosecutors.

Yudhoyono has responded to public anger over the KPK arrests by appointing a fact-finding mission. But it has no power to prosecute.

House speaker Marzuki Alie said swift action must be taken against all officials involved and their punishment "must be more severe than penalties for ordinary people".

Hendardi, the head of the Legal Aid Association, an activist group for human rights and government reform, said Yudhoyono should order the defendants' release and fire the Attorney General and chief of police.

"People are tired of promises by government officials when they have not changed their own corrupt ways," Hendardi said. "This is the time for [the President] to listen to the voice of the people because he promised to really eradicate corruption."

Hundreds rallied for the release of the KPK deputies, saying the arrests were politically motivated.

- AP