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Officer gets slap on wrist in BNN scandal
The National Police have handed down a lenient punishment to Comr
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he National Police have handed down a lenient punishment to Comr. Albert Dedi, a detective from the police's special economic crime division, who was accused of aiding a drug dealer.
The corps sanctioned Albert only for stealing documents from the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) headquarters in Jakarta last week.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Ronny F. Sompie said CCTV footage from the BNN showed that Albert broke into the administrative office of BNN's operations deputy, Insp. Gen. Benny Mamoto, on the evening of July 4 and stole some documents.
'Our joint investigation with the BNN found that he entered the office. This proves that he gave us a false statement,' he told a press conference in Jakarta.
Albert earlier claimed that he did not take any documents. Instead, he claimed he had taken some personal documents to Benny in order to claim his salary for his tenure with the BNN.
Ronny said that Albert had served as BNN investigator since 2009, before being transferred to the police's crime division earlier this year.
The BNN dismissed Albert for lending the agency's badge to Andre Syamsul Malik ' a drug dealer ' to protect the latter's illicit business.
The force's Internal Affairs Division (Propam) is conducting further investigations to determine disciplinary sanctions against Albert.
Ronny said that the force was still trying to recover the stolen documents.
'The BNN is still sorting through its documents to discover what was actually stolen. For sure, the stolen files are not investigation reports ['¦] If needed, we will search the officer's home to get the documents,' he said.
Indonesian Police Watch (IPW) chairman Neta S. Pane urged the police to file criminal charges against Albert.
'The police's crime division must handle this case seriously and immediately bring it to court,' Neta said..
Ronny said Albert may indeed face criminal charges.
'We will liaise with BNN's operations deputy to decide whether to charge the officer with document theft under the Criminal Code [KUHP],' he added.
Speculation is rife that the theft of the documents was only a cover for a larger plot against the BNN.
Many suspect that the stolen documents were related to the police's investigation into abuses of power by Benny, who will soon be retiring from the agency.
A businesswoman identified as Helena, the owner of currency exchange firm PT Sky Money Changer (SMC), filed a report accusing Benny of wrongfully blocking her company's bank accounts over the suspicion that they were used to pool illicit funds.
Albert was part of a BNN team investigating a drug case in which Helena was implicated and reportedly got close to Helena during that time.
Ronny said that the police would not follow up on Helena's report until the BNN completed its investigation into the bank accounts.
Others suspect that the document theft may be part of a power struggle between BNN chairman Comr. Gen. Anang Iskandar and the police's crime division chief, Comr. Gen. Sutarman, who are both vying to become the successor of National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo, who will retire in August.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is set to appoint the new police chief in August.
