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Papua cop with fat bank accounts faces legal charges
The National Police will press charges against a low-ranking police officer in resource-rich Papua who owns bank accounts containing billions of rupiah for his alleged involvement in illegal logging and fuel smuggling
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he National Police will press charges against a low-ranking police officer in resource-rich Papua who owns bank accounts containing billions of rupiah for his alleged involvement in illegal logging and fuel smuggling.
The National Police's special economics crimes director, Brig. Gen. Arief Sulityanto, says that the low-ranking officer, identified as Adj. First Insp. Labora Sitorus, was suspected of involvement in the illicit practices allegedly committed PT Seno Adi Wijaya and PT Rotua.
'LS [Labora Sitorus] does not have official positions in the companies. But, the companies have wired money to several bank accounts, including his,' said at the police's Criminal Investigations Division headquarters in South Jakarta.
Labora, an officer at the Sorong Police precinct in West Papua, is in the spotlight after the mass media recently ran stories about his staggering fortune.
In March, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) filed a report with National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo stating that Labora had been linked to bank transactions totaling Rp 1 trillion (US$102 million) between 2007 and 2012. 'We have frozen 60 bank accounts that are affiliated to Labora. Some are Labora's personal accounts, while the remaining bank accounts belong to companies,' Arief said.
He added that in late March, the Papua Police seized the assets of PT Seno Adi Wijaya and PT Rotua.
On March 21, the police confiscated three barges carrying a total of 1 million liters of diesel fuel off Sorong. The barges were operated by PT Seno Adi Wijaya.
'On March 28, we seized one barge [of PT Rotua] transporting 1,500 logs. Besides the seizures in Papua, the police confiscated 80 containers of timber at Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya, East Java, intended for export,' Arief went on.
The Papua Police, under the direction of the National Police, will charge Labora under the 1999 Forestry Law, the 2001 Papua Special Autonomy Law and Money Laundering Law No. 25/2003 and No. 8/2010.
The investigation into Labora's alleged involvement in the illegal timber trade comes at a time when Indonesia is arduously combating illegal logging.
Forestry Ministry data shows that from 1996 to 2003, deforestation in the country reached 3.5 million hectares per year. In 2011, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) estimated that Indonesia suffered annual losses of Rp 36 trillion from widespread illegal logging.
'We first received the information from the PPATK. Later, the Papua Police shared the details regarding their preliminary investigation. The KPK has given some advice on the issue. The KPK is ready to support the investigation based on its expertise and experience,' Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto said in a text message.
Previously, the PPATK reported 23 suspicious 'fat' bank accounts belonging to high-ranking police officers. The National Police claimed that 17 of the accounts were clean but declined to make the details public.
Former National Police Traffic Directorat chief Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo became the first active duty general to be prosecuted by the KPK. The KPK claimed that Djoko had wired money illegally obtained from the Rp 200 billion driving simulator procurement to his wives and relatives.
Labora seems to have followed Djoko's path. Arief implied that Labora's wife and siblings were involved in his illicit businesses.
