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View all search resultsFormer prisoners testify on extortion at KPK detention center
Detainees at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) detention center had to pay up to Rp 20 million a month or were forced to spend time in solitary confinement, according to court testimony from former prisoners.
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Two security guards pat down a visitor before he enters the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) detention center in Jakarta on Oct. 10, 2024. (Antara/Aprillio Akbar)
F
ormer detainees of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) have testified in court that guards and other antigraft body employees demanded illicit payments for perks such as private cells and would put detainees in solitary confinement if they refused or were unable to pay for certain such arrangements.
The Jakarta Corruption Court is hearing a bribery case against 15 former KPK employees who allegedly extorted and accepted bribes from the commission’s detainees from 2019 to 2023.
Among the defendants are former detention center chief Achmad Fauzi; Hengki, a Law and Human Rights Ministry employee holding a concurrent position in the KPK; Deden Rochendi, a police officer also serving as acting KPK detention center head; and KPK employee Muhammad Ridwan.
Prosecutors allege they pocketed a total of Rp 6.3 billion (US$401,255) in extortion money over the four years.
Over the past week, prosecutors presented former KPK detainees to testify to the court. Former Bekasi mayor Rahmat Effendi, for example, who was convicted of corruption in 2023, took the witness stand on Monday.
Rahmat, who was arrested in January 2022 and detained in the KPK detention center just behind the antigraft body headquarters in South Jakarta, told the court that guards had offered inmates private cells for Rp 97 million.
Several detainees took up the offer, according to Rahmat’s testimony as reported by tempo.co, including former Papua governor Lukas Enembe, who was arrested in a bribery case in January 2023. He died in prison in December of last year, some two months after the court found him guilty of accepting bribes and gratuities.
