KPK: Immigration Scandal Bribe Money Stashed in Accounts of Cleaning Service Staff and Office Boys

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has revealed shocking facts related to an alleged extortion scandal within the Directorate General of Immigration. The anti-graft body assesses that this corrupt practice has been running systemically, involving a wide network from the central level down to regional immigration offices. KPK Chairman Setyo Budiyanto explained that the criminal act was not standalone but followed a structured pattern of instructions. “The command process is top-down, while the money or the deposit process is bottom-up, from the bottom to the top,” Setyo stated at the KPK’s Merah Putih Building in Jakarta on Thursday. To disguise the flow of funds, the suspects allegedly used accounts under other people’s names. Disturbingly, the identities used included low-level workers such as office boys, cleaning service staff, and relatives of the officials. The KPK also revealed a panic among Immigration officials when the agency investigated the Foreign Manpower Utilisation Plan case at the Ministry of Manpower in 2025. Fearing detection, the suspects immediately withdrew money from the nominee accounts in stages. The withdrawn cash was then converted into gold bars. Setyo noted that this gold was used to purchase immovable assets to avoid detection in banking transactions. “Usually, immovable property transactions use Rupiah via bank transfer, but this used gold bars,” he disclosed. In addition to gold, the KPK found the use of a towing company strongly suspected to be merely a shell company to disguise the extortion proceeds. This company was also used to facilitate personal interests, including the purchase of six trail motorcycles for off-road activities. In this case, the KPK has named eight suspects, including Deputy Minister of Immigration and Corrections Silmy Karim, along with several other high-ranking immigration officials. The total loss from the extortion practices during the 2022–2026 period is estimated to have reached Rp145.5 billion. Following the suspect designation, President Prabowo Subianto officially dismissed Silmy Karim from his position as Deputy Minister on Thursday afternoon, as a show of the government’s firmness in eradicating corruption.