Police in Indonesia have named two senior anti-corruption² chiefs as suspects in a criminal bribery³ case.

印尼警方认定两名高级反腐败主管为一起行贿案的嫌疑犯。

President Yudhoyono has pledged to tackle Indonesia's endemic corruption

The two men - Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto - are suspected of an abuse of power, detectives have said.

In May, the head of Indonesia's corruption commission, Antasari Azhar, was named as a suspect in a murder investigation⁴.

The announcement follows months of tension between Indonesia's anti-corruption commission and the police.

"From the investigation we have raised their status from witnesses to suspects," said Yovianes Mahar, a senior anti-corruption official with the Indonesian police.

Both men left the National Police headquarters in Jakarta late on Tuesday, saying they would return on Wednesday morning to continuing being questioned, reports say.

Some analysts⁵ say the police are trying to undermine the work of the anti-corruption commission, which has investigated senior police officials in the past, but the police have denied this, reports add.

Despite efforts by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to clamp down on graft⁶, Indonesia is a country that regularly ranks as one of the most corrupt¹ in the world.

The Indonesian parliament plans to pass a corruption court bill later this month, which would severely⁷ weaken the court and anti-corruption agency.