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View all search resultsDeputy immigration minister suspected of extorting foreigners overstay permit
Deputy Immigration and Corrections Minister Silmy Karim, who also served as the immigration director general between 2023 and 2024, allegedly received around Rp 100 million (US$5,567) per week from extortion fees related to stay permit issuance for foreigners.
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Deputy Immigration and Corrections Minister Silmy Karim (center) walks wearing a detainee vest after questioning at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) headquarters in Jakarta on June 4, 2026. After more than 10 hours of questioning, the antigraft body named Silmy a suspect in an alleged corruption case involving the processing of stay permits for foreign nationals. (Antara/Dhemas Reviyanto)
T
he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has named Deputy Immigration and Corrections Minister Silmy Karim a suspect in an alleged extortion case relating to foreigner stay permits, marking the second arrest of a top government official for corruption this week.
Silmy was detained after turning himself in to the antigraft body on Wednesday evening. Graft busters interrogated him immediately afterward until Thursday morning.
He joined seven other ministry officials who were detained following raids in Jakarta, West Java and Bali on Tuesday and Wednesday. Among them were heads of West Jakarta and West Java immigration offices Ronald Arman Abdullah and Jaya Saputra, respectively, as well as former acting immigration director general Saffar Muhammad Godam.
The KPK suspects the extortion scheme had been ongoing since 2022, when the immigration ministry was still a directorate general under the then-law and human rights ministry.
The suspects allegedly systematically collected illicit fees in exchange for expediting the issuance of limited stay permits (KITAS) for foreign nationals seeking to live and work in the country. Investigators suspected the scheme involved instructions from senior ministry officials, while the levies were collected at regional offices.
“If the applicants did not provide anything beyond the [official] fees, they would face delays in obtaining authorization and approval for their applications,” KPK chair Setyo Budiyanto said in a press briefing on Thursday.
Read also: ‘Light’ sentencing stunts Indonesia’s corruption fight
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