Graft probes need courage: Police<\/p>\n
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Police have too many stumbling blocks thrown in their
\npath when they are tasked to handle corruption reports, which
\nflood into their headquarters throughout the year.<\/p>\n
As a result, they have only \"succeeded\" in further processing
\nof four of the hundreds of potential corruption cases.<\/p>\n
Of those four, only one has been handed over to prosecutors,
\nAdj. Sr. Comr. Anton Wahono said on Wednesday. Anton is one of
\nthe key detectives assigned to look into corruption allegations.<\/p>\n
That one was the case of subdistrict chief Lilik Hasanudin,
\nwho allegedly amassed Rp 134 million (US$14,889) from a
\ngovernment program meant to be used for poverty alleviation in
\nhis subdistrict.<\/p>\n
Another is the case of a Rp 46.46 billion corruption
\nallegation at the Pondok Indah branch of state bank BNI.<\/p>\n
It took nine months from the time the 8-member team was given
\nthe initial report, and they eventually completed the 40-
\ncentimeter thick file on five bankers named suspects for
\nembezzling bank money.<\/p>\n
\"Investigating corruption cases takes a longer period of time
\nthan a standard street crime. It's a white collar crime we're
\ntalking about. In certain circumstances, especially when facing a
\nsly suspect, we also have to be cunning and play along,\" the city
\npolice special crime detectives chief Sr. Comr. Edmon Ilyas
\nargued.<\/p>\n
Anton agreed with his boss, and added that most of the reports
\nbrought to them by citizens did not have enough reliable
\nevidence.<\/p>\n
One exception to that, he pointed out, was the report on
\nalleged corruption committed by former Depok councillors in which
\na non-governmental organization (NGO) -- whose name was still
\nbeing withheld -- enclosed strong evidence with the report.<\/p>\n
\"Compared to other investigations which may take a long time,
\nin the Depok case, we were able to complete it in five months...
\nWe have named 19 suspects in the alleged Rp 9 billion abuse case
\nthat took place in 2003.\"<\/p>\n
Anton argued that many of the corruption reports they received
\nturned out to be fictitious or very weak.
\nfeel free to cut these para<\/p>\n
\"How would we follow up on a case if all we could find at the
\naddress of the NGO that filed the report was an orphanage, and
\nthey did not know anything about the report,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) executive Danang
\nWidoyoko reiterated that in conjunction with the International
\nAnti-Corruption Day on Thursday, the police should be taking a
\nmore active role in investigating corruption.<\/p>\n
\"Rather than waiting for the public to provide them with the
\nreports and hard evidence, why don't they start to scrutinize the
\nannual reports of the Supreme Audit Agency about irregularities
\nin the Jakarta administration?\" Danang told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The city police, which commemorated its 55th anniversary on
\nMonday, should not use the difficulty they have in obtaining
\nevidence as an excuse for their slow pace of work, Danang added,
\nand instead tried to deal with their real stumbling blocks:
\nbribery and political intervention.<\/p>\n
\"The suspects surely have a lot of money to hire notorious
\nlawyers who usually have some clout over the police, the
\nprosecutors and even the judges,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Anton acknowledged the challenges they face.<\/p>\n
\"Sometimes we have to deal with 'intervention' (from outside
\nparties) on cases involving big names. We also receive phone
\ncalls to persuade us to be lenient toward the suspects,\" he said.
\n\"That's why graft investigators must have a strong mind and
\ncourage.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/graft-probes-need-courage-police-1447893297",
"image": ""
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