President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is coming under increasing pressure to form an independent team to investigate allegations of implausibly large bank accounts held by seven high-ranking police officers.
Anticorruption activists and observers are opposed to an internal police internal investigation, which they say would lack credibility.
Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) activist Agus Sunaryanto said he doubted an internal police investigation could be neutral because senior police officers previously implicated in alleged criminal activity rarely received more than administrative sanctions.
“Although the National Police chief has rejected the idea, the President should push for its establishment,” he said at the Jakarta office of Imparsial, a human rights monitoring group.
Tempo magazine reported last week that at least seven high-ranking police officers had billions of rupiah transferred from unspecified third parties into their bank accounts, allegations first made public in 2005 when a Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) audit was leaked to the press.
Yudhoyono has ordered National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri to probe the allegations.
Many civil society activists have questioned if the police can investigate its officers impartially.
Judicial Mafia Taskforce secretary Denny Indrayana said he supports the formation an independent investigation team comprised of representatives of the National Police, Attorney General’s Office and Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to ensure a neutral investigation.
Bambang said there is no need to form such an independent team — nor to involve the KPK.
“We will punish police officers who received illicit funds,” he added.
Agus said that if an independent investigation — or any other team discovered indications of police corruption in the bank account allegations, the cases should be handled by the KPK.
“That will ensure that those involved in corruption in the police force will receive harsh punishments, not just administrative punishments,” he said.
Edwin Kartogi from the National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said that bribes from businesspeople might be a source of allegedly illicit deposits.
“There are businesspeople who have many legal businesses that are operated illegally, such as by falsifying export or import documents, manipulating taxes, smuggling, monopolizing the market or manipulating the law to their competitors’ disadvantage,” he said.
The businesspeople shower police officers with gifts such as houses, vehicles, credit cards, insurance policies and holiday packages, as well as corporate shares, Edwin said.
“Police officers who accept bribes usually keep the ill-gotten funds in family’s bank accounts or safe deposit boxes,” he said.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said the police would follow Yudhoyono’s orders.
“The team has been working to seek clarifications from the officers whose bank accounts were deemed suspicious. We will publicly announce the results next week,” he said. (rdf)
