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Jakarta Post

Police name suspects in port logistics fiasco

The Jakarta Police named on Wednesday three people allegedly involved in a graft case that had been suspected of causing the notoriously long dwelling time at the Tanjung Priok Port

Fedina S. Sundaryani and Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, July 30, 2015

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Police name suspects in port logistics fiasco

T

he Jakarta Police named on Wednesday three people allegedly involved in a graft case that had been suspected of causing the notoriously long dwelling time at the Tanjung Priok Port.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian said that investigators have named an official in the Trade Ministry'€™s directorate-general for foreign trade, identified only as I, as one of the suspects for alleged graft in relation to issuing grant permits. According to Tito, I is currently on a work-related trip overseas.

The other two suspects were N, a contract worker in the same division with I, and MU, a middleman.

'€œWe have already analyzed their bank accounts and they were worth billions. Furthermore, as one of the subdirectorate heads was named a suspect, we will keep investigating to see how far up [the graft goes] and whether other state institutions were involved,'€ he said, adding that there may be more involved in the alleged graft case.

Tito explained that officers started investigating the case after President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo lashed out at the lengthy dwelling time at the Tanjung Priok Port during an inspection of the Indonesia Port Corporation (IPC) in June.

Dwelling time indicates the average length of time a container spends in a seaport terminal. A shorter dwelling time means a more efficient shipment process and lower logistical costs.

'€œ[President Jokowi] saw the containers piling up and he was disappointed. [The dwelling time] in Singapore is a day and it is two days in Malaysia, whereas it is around five days in Indonesia,'€ he said, adding that this prompted a preliminary investigation to see whether foul play contributed to the delay.

Jokowi was quoted as saying that the current inefficient dwelling times have caused total losses of
Rp 780 trillion (US$57.8 billion).

Tito said that after a month monitoring the area, the police discovered that there were abnormalities at the permit pre-clearance stage in the one-stop integrated service at the port since not all of the ministries and institutions had representatives present, including the Trade Ministry.

Their absence was taken advantage of by several people who extorted money out of companies in order to issue permits faster.

On Tuesday, investigators from the Jakarta Police'€™s special crimes division raided the Trade Ministry for more than six hours, from 2 p.m. until 8:15 p.m., to gather evidence for the case. Tito explained that among the evidence found was cash.

'€œDuring the raid, we found $42,000 and S$4,000. This will be part of the evidence in our investigation,'€ he said.

Tito added that although the case was centered around the Trade Ministry, the police has found indications that officials from other ministries may also be involved.

Meanwhile, the Trade Ministry spoke up on Wednesday about the Jakarta Police'€™s recent search of the government office.

According to Karyanto Suprih, the ministry'€™s inspector general, a number of police officers from the special crimes division (Direskrimsus) came to the ministry complex on Tuesday with a warrant to search the office space of the directorate-general for foreign trade and the directorate for trade imports, which ended with several boxes being taken away from the scene.

Although the inspector general said that there had not yet been an official notice about any specific details pertaining to the case, he made assurances that the ministry would fully respect the legal process and support all efforts to crack down on corruption.

'€œThe legal process is still ongoing, so we'€™ll wait and see ['€¦] So far we'€™ve been cooperative with what the police are undertaking and have full trust that they will remain professional throughout,'€ Karyanto told reporters during a press briefing in Central Jakarta on Wednesday.

He indicated that several officials, including the director general for foreign trade, Partogi Pangaribuan, a director and several officials from echelon III and IV, would remain inactive so they could support the police'€™s investigations and not impede the day-to-day activities of the ministry.

'€œTo support the investigation, the minister has temporarily relieved from their duties several officials who are undergoing questioning by the police,'€ Karyanto said.

'€œThis is to ensure that public service continues.'€

The trade official further revealed that Minister Rachmat Gobel had appointed him to temporarily replace Partogi as acting director general for foreign trade, as the latter would be questioned as a witness.

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