The match fixing probe conducted by the police since late last year that lead to acting Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI) chief Joko Driyono being found guilty of trying to hide hard evidence and sentenced to 1.5 years in prison was another anticlimax, soccer fans have said.

Ignatius Indro, chief of the Indonesian national team supporters association, regretted the police’s decision to halt the match fixing probe, believing that the match fixing problems were still far from solved.

“We had earlier imagined that this case would be like opening Pandora’s Box and the police would arrest many other figures who were of the same or higher level than Joko Driyono. But instead, we heard nothing from the police after Joko’s arrest,” Indro told The Jakarta Post Tuesday.

He said it was impossible for Joko to have ordered his men to destroy the evidence if there was nothing to hide in the first place. Therefore, Joko’s suspicious order itself should have stood as a pivotal clue for the police to pursue more facts and question more people that might link Joko with match fixing allegations.

“Instead, the police are going in a totally different direction.”

He acknowledged that the public seemed to have grown complacent with the fact that Joko had been arrested and named a suspect and therefore thought that the police had done enough to prove that they meant business.

“The fact that the police have instead shut down the task force since June 21 and said nothing more about the continuation of this probe is unacceptable,” he added.

Former head of the police’s antisoccer mafia task force, Brig. Gen. Hendro Pandowo, confirmed the shutdown of the operation and did not elaborate on the police’s future plans regarding the probe.

“The task force’s six-month tenure ended on June 21,” he said.

Akmal Marhali of the Save Our Soccer coalition expected the PSSI’s ad hoc integrity committee to start another attempt to launch a probe by collecting reports from those who witnessed match fixing and then filed reports to the police.

“The police will make another probe once they find legitimate evidence in the report,” he said.

Indro said the situation had left him with no other option but to ask about this directly from National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian.

“We are going to take this matter to Tito, asking why the police are throwing away the people’s expectation for better soccer management,” he said.

Joko Driyono was sentenced after the judges at the South Jakarta District Court found him guilty of ordering his men to destroy hard evidence that would have been needed by the police in their investigation into match fixing allegations in Banjarnegara, Central Java. Joko has been in jail since March 25.

“The panel finds the defendant guilty of ordering his men to destroy evidence and therefore violate the Criminal Code. He is sentenced to 1.5 years in prison,” panel chief Kartim Haeruddin said at Tuesday’s hearing.

However, the same panel also declared that Joko had no connection or involvement with the match fixing case. The panel had also ordered prosecutors to return the raided materials to Joko after the ruling.

Commenting on this, Joko’s lawyer Mustafa Abidin said he would likely file an appeal as he saw the panel’s inconsistency on the ruling.

“If Joko is declared not guilty or shared no involvement in the match fixing case, then his role in the allegation of destroying evidence is also sketchy. Thus, I hope the appeal bench could see this and agree with us that Joko should go free,” he said.

Meanwhile, prosecutors are likely to file an appeal over the case but for different reasons.

The case originated from testimonies made by former Persibara Banjar Negara manager Lasmi Indriyani on television talk show program Mata Najwa, where she said she had been asked for Rp 1.3 billion (US$93,000) by Johar Lin Eng, former PSSI executive committee member, with the promise to grant her club a victory. This case has dragged six PSSI officials to the Banjarnegara court over match fixing charges.

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