Police asks BPKP to audit Freeport funding

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution says the National Police is ready to provide access to the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) to audit funds it received from PT Freeport Indonesia (FI).

Saud added that BPKP officials were on a team comprising officials from the National Police internal and legal affairs divisions who had been deployed to Papua. He added the team was tasked to evaluate all aspects of the security funding.

Police have rejected public criticism and concerns that receiving funds from private entities creates a conflict of interests and is in clear violation of various laws.

Saud, for example, cited that police had legal grounds for accepting the US$14 million worth of assistance funds from Freeport, arguing that police can accept large sums of money from third parties outside the central government with impunity.