T

he government’s insistence on capital punishment is once more in the spotlight as state institutions struggle to unravel claims made by executed drug lord Freddy Budiman that state security personnel were involved in the narcotics trade.

Separate investigations conducted by the Indonesian Military (TNI), the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) and the National Police are not even close to identifying the alleged roles of their respective officials in facilitating Freddy’s business, as the latter told human rights activist Haris Azhar in 2014.

A fact-finding team set up by National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian two weeks ago has found that a meeting between Freddy and Haris at a secluded prison on Nusakambangan in Central Java did indeed take place after questioning several witnesses in situ last week, including John Kei, an inmate who also attended the meeting, priest Andreas, who helped Haris secure access to the prison, and an unidentified prison guard.

The team is still reaching out to several other witnesses, some of whom are considered key eyewitness, such as the former head of Batu Prison, where Freddy was detained before his execution, and two other spiritual leaders said to have attended the meeting.

“I have played a part in many fact-finding teams in the past but none have been as challenging as this,” team member Hendardi told The Jakarta Post.

The chairman of Jakarta-based human rights watchdog Setara Institute noted that the absence of Freddy, as the key figure in the case, hampered the police’s task of working quickly to gather disparate evidence.

“We rely on the very brief and vague information given by Haris in his post,” said Hendardi. “Again we’re seeing that the death penalty is problematic because it deprives us of key people in criminal cases.”

In addition to Hendardi, the police’s team of 18 members also includes two other outsiders — former human rights lawyer Poengky Indarti, who is now serving as a commissioner with the National Police Commission (Kompolnas), and communication expert Effendi Ghazali of the University of Indonesia.

Headed by National Police general supervision inspector Comr. Gen. Dwi Prayitno, the police’s team is assigned with investigating the destination of Rp 90 billion (US$6.8 million) Freddy allegedly transferred to top officials at the National Police over the years.

Haris also reported that Freddy claimed to have paid up to Rp 450 billion to BNN personnel.

The BNN has set up its own team to trace the alleged transfer of money from Freddy to officials serving at the institution. The state narcotics body has summoned several witnesses, including former Batu Prison head Liberti Sitinjak, but has made little progress so far.

Meanwhile, TNI commander Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo insisted his institution was serious about looking into personnel involved in Freddy’s drugs business, as mentioned in Haris’ post.

Gatot told reporters on Monday that an investigation by an internal team was still ongoing, though he declined to elaborate.

“There is no progress so far. Our team is still carrying out the job. We are also working with the PPATK [Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center],” he said, noting the PPATK’s role in identifying transactions between Freddy and TNI personnel.