Listyo rotated a total of 539 police officials on Saturday, including several high-ranking officers in the National Police headquarters and in several regional police offices.

Agus was appointed as police deputy chief to fill the post left by his predecessor Comr. Gen. Gatot Eddy Pramono who will be retiring on Wednesday.

Fifty-seven-year-old Agus previously served as the director for general crime at the National Police's Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) in 2016, handling the high-profile blasphemy case of former Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama. Ahok was sentenced to two years in prison in 2017 for suggesting that some people had abused a Quranic verse to block his reelection bid.

In 2018, Agus was appointed as North Sumatra Police chief, replacing Firli Bahuri who was selected as the deputy for law enforcement at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Agus was named as the head of Bareskrim in February 2021, replacing Listyo who was appointed by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo as the police chief.

During his tenure as chief detective, Agus handled the investigation into the controversial murder of low-ranking cop Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat, which is regarded as the biggest scandal to embroil the police to date.

Yosua was murdered last year by his own superior, the then-National Police internal affairs chief Ferdy Sambo, who was sentenced to death in February this year.

Read also: Ferdy Sambo loses appeal of murder conviction

The premeditated murder and subsequent cover-up attempts following the crime have led to the imprisonment of eight officers and the demotion and dismissal of more than a dozen policemen.

There had been speculation that head of the National Police's Security Maintenance Agency (Baharkam) Comr. Gen. Mohammad Fadil Imran would be appointed as the new deputy chief following claims made by House of Representatives member Trimedya Pandjaitan of the largest party in the ruling coalition, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Fadil remains at the post he has held since March. He previously led the Jakarta Police, during which he arrested former West Sumatra Police chief Teddy Minahasa on suspicion of distributing 5 kilograms of crystal meth to North Jakarta in October of last year. Experts suspect that Teddy’s arrest, which came only months after Ferdy’s case was brought to light, could indicate a possible rift inside the embattled National Police and a flaw within its selection process.

Read also: Police image in tatters as murder scandal widens

Teddy was sentenced to life in prison in May for ordering his subordinate to swap the seized methamphetamine with potassium alum in a plot to illicitly sell drugs.

Reassignments

The National Police’s Security Intelligence Agency (Baintelkam) head Comr. Gen. Wahyu Widada now leads Bareskrim, replacing Agus, while National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN) deputy head Comr. Gen. Suntana is Wahyu's replacement.

Listyo, meanwhile, promoted former West Sulawesi Police chief Insp. Gen. Verdianto Iskandar Bitticaca as his operation assistant, replacing Insp. Gen. Agung Setya Imam Effendi who became the North Sumatra Police chief. Agung’s predecessor Insp. Gen. Pance Putra was transferred to the National Police's Education and Training Institute (Lemdiklat).

Following the reassignments, Bali now has a new police chief – Brig. Gen. Ida Bagus KD Putra Narendra, replacing Insp. Gen. Putu Jayan Danu Putra who was transferred to Baintelkam.

The rotation of police high-ranking officers took place just months before the general election in February of next year, in which Indonesians are set to choose their next president and vote for legislators both at the national and regional levels.

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