Jakarta police chief denies having dubious bank transactions

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

City police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani denied on Tuesday that he was on the list of 15 police officials suspected of engaging in questionable transactions as suggested by the Financial Transaction and Report Analysis Center (PPATK).

Firman said that National Police chief Gen. Sutanto had told him that most of the 15 police listed were middle-ranking officials and only one or two were high-ranking officers.

"Only one or two high ranking officers are included on the list, and I am not one of them," he said.

He said that he hoped that none of his officers from the city police were on the list.

PPATK chairman Yunus Husein submitted last week to Sutanto a list of 15 high and middle ranking officers, who have suspicious transactions resulting in a huge bank balance.

Yunus also submitted the list to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday.

While both Yunus and Sutanto refused to reveal the names of officers on the list and the amount of money in their accounts, several organizations had given out the initials of those police personnel.

The Blora Center, which is linked to President Susilo, came up with high profile figures in the national police headquarters and regional police, including Gen. D, Comr. Gen. AD, Insp. Gen. IS, Comr. Gen. MP, Insp. Gen. ED, Brig. Gen. RR, Brig. Gen. DK, Brig. Gen. BG, Insp. Gen. SS, and Sr. Comr. MS.

"We received the information from the public. Of course, only the police chief and PPATK know who exactly are on the list," Blora Center's director Yusuf Rizal told The Jakarta Post.

Meanwhile, executive director of the Independent Monitoring Alliance on State Apparatus (AMIPKA) David Ridwan Betz released information on 40 middle and high-ranking officers that had a huge bank balance.

David claimed that MP had Rp 800 billion in his account, FG Rp 800 billion, DG Rp 150 billion, WO Rp 700 billion, and SS Rp 800 billion.

David said that the officers received bribes from suspects who wanted to evade arrest, project markups, bribery from officers who wanted to be promoted and gambling money.

He said that all of the 40 officers had between Rp 3 billion and Rp 800 billion in their accounts.

Sutanto announced that he had ordered his internal affairs officers to investigate the report.

However, many suggested that the investigation would be inconsequential as several officers at internal affairs may also be included on the list.

Instead, they proposed that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) or the Inter-departmental Anticorruption Team take over the case.