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Police, PPATK hunt down rogue cops
Team looking into suspicious transactions in 329 bank accounts.
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he police have formed a joint investigation team with the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) as they begin to crack down on rogue officers allegedly involved with online gambling rings.
National Police chief Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo said the team was looking into suspicious transactions in 329 bank accounts – 202 of which have now been frozen by the PPATK.
"From our investigation, we have identified 10 suspects who were allegedly running elite online gambling rings. We have added their names to our list of wanted criminals," Listyo said on Friday.
He did not reveal the identities of the 10 suspects -- six of whom are currently overseas
He said that: "[After we track them down and] arrest them, we'll find out [about police involvement in the case]. Obviously if there are officers involved in the operation of the online gambling rings, we'll prosecute them.”
The police have requested Interpol to publish so-called red notices for the six wanted fugitives and have cooperated with authorities in five different countries to arrest them and bring them home.
An Interpol red notice does not compel any nation to arrest these individuals, but informs law enforcement worldwide that they are wanted in Indonesia.
Police have also asked the Law and Human Rights Ministry to issue an overseas travel ban for the remaining four suspects who have not fled to other countries.
303 Consortium
The joint police-PPATK investigation was launched amid unverified rumors that former internal affairs chief Insp. Gen. Ferdy Sambo and numerous high-ranking officers had backed illegal online gambling.
Speculation has been especially rife in social media posts referring to “Kekaisaran Sambo” (Sambo’s Empire) and “Konsorsium 303” (303 Consortium). The number “303” refers to the article on gambling in the Criminal Code. Meanwhile, Ferdy Sambo is a key suspect in the ongoing probe into the murder of his subordinate Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat in July.
The murder case is the biggest scandal in the Indonesian police to date and it has shredded the police’s image because dozens of police officers were reportedly involved in Ferdy's alleged cover-up story.
The police have charged 35 officers after questioning a total of 97 personnel in relation to the initial handling case of Yosua's murder, with 28 accused of committing ethical breaches and seven of obstructing justice.
Eighteen officers have been sanctioned by the ethics committee, with five having been dishonorably discharged from the force, including Ferdy. He could face the death penalty if found guilty of premeditated murder in court.
PPATK chief Ivan Yustiavandana told a hearing of House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs last month that his agency had found around 121 million transactions worth Rp 155.4 trillion (US$10.1 billion) related to online gambling, including in police officers’ bank accounts.
"The transactions were carried out by various members of the public, including college students, housewives, civil servants, office workers and police officers. In 2022 alone we have frozen 312 bank accounts worth Rp 836 million in relation to online gambling activities," Ivan said at the hearing, as reported by kompas.com.
Last week, Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) head Sugeng Teguh Santoso revealed a list of transactions that were allegedly made by members of the 303 consortium to rogue police officers.
The document, which has not been verified so far, showed that members of online gambling rings bribed high-ranking police officers around Rp 20 billion per month to back their illegal businesses.
Gambling raids
The National Police and regional police forces have conducted raids and arrested suspects on Listyo’s instructions to eradicate gambling in the country, including accomplices who fund the illicit operations, amid the ongoing murder and cover-up scandal and rumors of the 303 consortium.
Listyo said that the police had uncovered 2,236 gambling cases with 3,748 suspects between June and September. Half of the cases were related to online gambling and involved 1,516 suspects.
"Between June and now, we found 1,446 online gambling players and 977 operators, consisting of customer services, employees, web owners and web hosting providers. All of them have been named suspects," Listyo said on Friday.
