VP Jusuf Kalla defends attorney general over corruption scandal

"If a subordinate commits a crime it doesn't mean that the chief is guilty," he was quoted by AFP as telling ElShinta radio.

Kalla praised Supandji's performance and said he was the best attorney general in the country's history.

"In my experience, among all the attorney generals, he's the one with the best level of professionalism and knowledge," he said.

Supandji has denied any involvement in a suspected web of bribes and influence-peddling after one of his top investigators was arrested for allegedly taking a 660,000-dollar bribe to drop an embezzlement case.

Several top prosecutors have been implicated but so far none has been charged with any offence.

Taped conversations between prosecutors and businesswoman Artalyta Suryani, including one in which a prosecutor is heard asking for a "bonus" for his work, have been played in court and endlessly repeated on radio and television.

The case revolves around billions of dollars in emergency liquidity funds allegedly embezzled by banker Syamsul Nursalim, one of the country's richest men, during the Asian financial crisis in 1998.

Suryani is accused ...