KPK suspects Immigration officials continue to extort foreign nationals despite sting operation

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Corruption Eraduation Commission (KPK) suspects that the Directorate General of Immigration at the local office level is still engaging in extortion practices against foreign nationals, despite a sting operation (OTT) being conducted in June 2026.

“Following the occurrence of the caught-in-the-act event, the KPK suspects that the practices of receiving money by certain individuals within Immigration are still ongoing,” said KPK Spokesperson Budi Prasetyo at the KPK Merah Putih Building, Jakarta, on Tuesday.

Consequently, Budi stated that the KPK is conducting searches at several Immigration Offices suspected of continuing these extortion practices.

“During this investigation stage, the KPK subsequently carried out searches at several Immigration Offices suspected of engaging in similar practices,” he said.

“For example, the one conducted recently in Bali. What was seized here is money suspected to have been received previously,” he added.

The case began when the KPK conducted a sting operation related to alleged corruption in the processing of residence permits for foreign nationals.

As part of the series of sting operations, Silmy Karim, who was serving as the Deputy Minister of Immigration and Correctional Services at the time, surrendered himself to the KPK.

On 4 June 2026, the KPK named eight individuals as suspects in the alleged extortion case regarding the processing of foreign national residence permits for the 2022–2026 period within the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, which later became the Ministry of Immigration and Correctional Services.

The other six suspects include the Head of the Regional Office of the Directorate General of Immigration for West Java, Jaya Saputra; the Head of the Special Class I Immigration Office Non-TPI West Jakarta, Ronald Arman Abdullah; the Head of the Sub-directorate of Residence Permits and Immigration Status, Tessar Bayu Setyaji and Bagus Bramantyo; the Head of the Limited Residence Permit Status Change Team, Juniadi Sri Priambudi; and a staff member of the Residence Permit Sub-directorate, Gusti Benardiansyah.

The KPK suspects that the suspects gained profits of approximately Rp145.5 billion from these extortion practices during the 2022–2026 period.