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ritics have urged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to immediately probe mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia’s security funds allocated to the Papua Police despite assurances from the company that the money is legal.

“The KPK would have an easier job of investigating this case since the National Police chief admitted that his officers received such funds,” Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Firdaus Ilyas said on Sunday.

He said that Freeport had breached the Indonesian law as it had disbursed the funds directly to police officers rather than the Finance Ministry.

“All transactions that bypass the Finance Ministry’s monitoring can be categorized as illegal regardless of their purposes,” he said.

Law expert Yenti Garnasih of Trisakti University agreed with Firdaus that the KPK should be one of the legal institutions to investigate the Freeport security funds case.

Yenti argued that the police may be inclined to take the side of the company, which was currently forced to declare force majeure following a recent workers strike, rather than protect civilians.

“If the funds affected the officers’ priority [in protecting the civilians], then the payments constituted bribery,” Yenti said.

Freeport reportedly allocated US$14 million in security funds to the police to guard the firm’s mining site in Papua. It has insisted that the funds were allowed under the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, saying that the company could contribute or reimburse the costs of protecting its facilities and personnel.

The police shared the same view, saying that the security funds were legitimate and could be proven so by audit agencies or the KPK.

“For the sake of accountability, we welcome any investigation into the Papua Police,” National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo said on Sunday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

A demand for a further investigation also came from United Steelworkers, the US’ biggest industrial labor union, which said late last week that Freeport was violating the state’s law by bribing police in Indonesia.

“The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act bans companies from paying foreign officials to do or omit to do an act in violation of his or her lawful duty,” said the union as reported by The International Business Time.

The union urged the US Department of Justice to “immediately begin to investigate whether Freeport-McMoRan — Freeport Indonesia’s parent company — has been bribing security forces in Indonesia”.

Meanwhile, the KPK has said that it was not in a rush to conduct an investigation.

KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said his commission would first determine whether the payments were included in the working contract between Freeport and the central government.

“If the payments are official, then there should be an audit. The Supreme Audit Agency [BPK] or the Development Finance Comptroller [BPKP] should have the data,” Johan said last week. (lfr)