Da'i pledges support for police bribery probe
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Former National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar says he will support the ongoing investigation into allegations of high-level police corruption that allegedly occurred during his tenure.
Da'i was specifically referring to accusations that some of his senior officers accepted bribes while investigating a Rp 1.7 trillion (US$170 million) lending scam at the giant state Bank BNI in 2004.
Speaking to The Jakarta Post, Da'i said he had called for an internal investigation of the team led by Brig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko that handled the BNI investigation, after the main suspect in the case was able to escape to the U.S.
"The interim conclusion found that Ismoko was involved," Da'i said, adding that the officer was later transferred to a nonoperational post pending a hearing with the Disciplinary Committee.
Da'i was replaced by Gen. Sutanto in July before the completion of the internal investigation into the bribery allegation, which further tarnished the reputation of the National Police.
"I fully support the measures taken by the current leadership of the National Police to follow up on the investigation that I was unable to complete during my term in office," said Da'i, who last week launched a think tank called the Indonesian Crime Prevention Institute.
Ismoko was arrested on Thursday after the National Police named him a suspect in the bribery case. This followed the arrest of another member of the team investigating the BNI case, Sr. Comr. Irman Santosa, who has reportedly provided officers with evidence in their bribery investigation.
An earlier report claiming that Da'i and former chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng also accepted bribe money from BNI directors has since been dismissed as unsubstantiated.
Da'i said that during the investigation into the lending scam, several BNI directors had tried to play down the issue by saying the state had not suffered any losses, only that BNI's profit had taken a hit.
"I raised this issue at a Cabinet meeting about the mind-set of BNI's management ... every single cent of the people's money must be accounted for. It is not your grandparents' money," he said, repeating his statement at the Cabinet meeting led by then president Megawati Soekarnoputri.