Da'i pledges support for police bribery probe

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.