Da'i to be summoned over bribery case

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

National Police plan to summon their former chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar and ex-chief detective Comr. Gen. Erwin Mappaseng over a bribery case linked to the investigation into a Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) lending scam.

Police internal affairs division head Insp. Gen. Yusuf Manggabarani said on Friday that all those implicated in the bribery case, including the four-star general and his subordinate, would be questioned.

"We will investigate them all. If we want the police institution to be deemed clean, then the probe must not exempt anyone," Yusuf said, declaring that he had no fear of questioning police officers of higher rank.

Da'i and Erwin were implicated in the case after their subordinate Sr. Comr. Irman Santosa, who was one of the police investigators dealing with the BNI lending scam, reportedly testified that the two each received a total of Rp 1 billion (US$100,000) in bribes from former BNI director Mohammad Arsjad.

The bribe was apparently intended to influence these senior officers into halting the investigation into the bank fraud.

Yusuf, who also heads the probe into the BNI case, denied reports that Irman's testimony claiming that Da'i and Erwin took the bribe was included in Irman's case file.

"I have read the case file and there's no such a statement," he said.

However, this would not deter the police from questioning all those who may have been involved in the bribery case, Yusuf stressed.

Da'i, Erwin and Arsjad have all denied any role in the bribery case and accused Irman of giving a false statement to police investigators.

Irman was arrested in September after police investigators found evidence that he was involved in the escape of a key suspect in the BNI scandal, Adrian Waworuntu.

Adrian fled the country last year but police recaptured him, and a district court sentenced him to life in prison in March.

Adrian was found guilty of swindling around Rp 1.7 trillion from the state-owned bank, which he and his accomplices had managed to obtain by using fake letters of credit.

Apart from Irman, police internal affairs division had also questioned 15 officers -- comprising former chief of the team tasked with investigating the BNI fraud, Brig. Gen. Samuel Ismoko, and his subordinates.

Ismoko was later dismissed from the team, and a police disciplinary committee barred him from any involvement in criminal investigations for one year. The same committee also banned Irman from serving as a police investigator.

Yusuf, who replaced Ismoko as chairman of the BNI investigative team, said the police would complete Irman's dossier before opening the probe into Ismoko's alleged role in the same case.