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More customs officials implicated in bribery
Two customs and excise officials have been accused of accepting billions of rupiah in bribes, as well as a Harley Davidson motorcycle, while they worked at the Entikong Customs and Excise Office, a border town between Indonesia and Malaysia located in West Kalimantan
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wo customs and excise officials have been accused of accepting billions of rupiah in bribes, as well as a Harley Davidson motorcycle, while they worked at the Entikong Customs and Excise Office, a border town between Indonesia and Malaysia located in West Kalimantan.
The National Police's special economic crimes director, Brig. Gen. Arief Sulistyanto, disclosed on Thursday that the officials, identified as Langen Projo and Syafruddin, allegedly accepted the bribes from a businessman, identified as Hery Liwoto, in exchange for assistance given to his import business in 2010.
Between 2009 and 2011, Langen was the office's supervision and service head, while Syafruddin served as his subordinate. Langen is currently the head of enforcement and investigations at the Riau and West Sumatra Regional Customs and Excise Office.
'Hery's company, PT Kencana Lestari, imports various products from China, including sugar, furniture and carpentry tools. We have not found any evidence that the officials helped him import undocumented products, but there was definitely some sort of illicit business between them,' Arief said in a press conference on Thursday.
Hery and Langen reportedly enjoyed a close relationship.
'Hery purchased a Harley Davidson motorcycle, worth Rp 320 million [US$26,560], under the name of Yudho Patriotomo, Langen's brother-in-law,' he continued.
On Jan. 13, police detectives searched Langen's house in Bekasi, West Java, and found $10,000 in cash, in $100 notes, scattered on top of a cupboard.
The police's preliminary investigation shows that Hery transferred a number of unspecified sums of money to a bank account belonging to Ratiman, an assistant to Syafruddin's driver.
'A lot of transfers were made to Ratiman, totaling Rp 19.7 billion. There are three bank accounts [in Ratiman's name]. Meanwhile, Syafruddin had Rp 11 billion in his two bank accounts,' Arief said.
Syarifuddin allegedly managed Ratiman's bank accounts via SMS and Internet banking services.
The police have frozen a total of 15 bank accounts belonging to several individuals implicated in the case.
The police's money-laundering subdirectorate head, Sr. Comr. Agung Setya, said that Langen and Hery were the main suspects in the case and faced up to 15 years in prison for violating the 2001 Corruption Law and the 2010 Money-Laundering Law.
The police have suspended their investigation into Syarifuddin, as he is still in the custody of the Sanggau Prosecutor's Office in West Kalimantan over his involvement in a separate graft case.
Sources within the police say that Syarifuddin was one of 13 customs and excise officials with suspicious bank accounts, based on data by the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK).
Among the other officials is Heru Sulistyono, head of the customs and excise import-export subdivision, who received financial transactions totaling more than Rp 60 billion between 2009 and 2012.
In October, the police detained Heru for his alleged involvement in a bribery and money-laundering case totaling Rp 11 billion.
