T

he long-standing poor image of Jakarta Police affected legal practitioners' appraisal of its performance in graft investigations last year, experts say.

Iqrak Sulhin, a criminologist from the University of Indonesia, said that cases that were resolved were relatively minor.

"The police did not announce the total amount of money recovered from these cases," Iqrak said.

The public would not likely believe the police's commitment to eradicate corruption because so many officers continued to request and receive bribes.

Jakarta Police on Tuesday reported they had resolved 25 of 37 corruption cases reported to them last year.

It highlighted three major cases: First, there was a case of tax fraud worth Rp 32 billion, implicating officials from South Jakarta Education Agency.

Second was an embezzlement and money laundering case, worth Rp 220 billion, involving a bank in West Jakarta.

Third was a case of embezzlement worth Rp 12 billion, involving a fictional company and officials from the Agricultural Ministry.

Emerson Yuntho from Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said the organization never had much faith in the police because of their lack of transparency in corruption investigations.

"ICW reports corruption evidence we find to the Corruption Eradication Commission *KPK*," Emerson said.

Jakarta Police also acknowledged that officers who abused their power for corrupt purposes were still part of the picture.

According to the police, around 20 officers who received kickbacks were handed down punishments this year, compared to 13 officers in 2008.

"There are 31,365 officers in the Jakarta Police, which means only 0.0063 percent of officers received kickbacks in 2009," Jakarta Police chief Ins. Gen. Wahyono said.

Wahyono promised harsher punishment of officers who broke the rules.