KPK Urged Not to Be Half-Hearted in Exposing Customs Mafia
Calls for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) not to stop at one company in the bribery case at the Directorate General of Customs and Excise are intensifying. Counter-intelligence analyst Gautama Wiranegara assesses that the current investigation into alleged bribery at Customs and Excise has entered a crucial phase. According to him, after the initial target is secured, the direction of the case handling will determine whether this becomes a routine enforcement or evolves into a systemic dismantling.
“In every operation, the phase after the first target is secured is the decider. At that point, it becomes clear whether we are just catching the perpetrators or dismantling the network,” Gautama stated in his comments.
Gautama believes indications of involvement by more than one party in this case are already evident. This refers to the KPK’s statement acknowledging the presence of “other forwarders” in the case’s vortex.
“In operational terms, that means the network has already been mapped. The question is, will it be pursued or quietly halted,” he said.
He highlighted the scale of the alleged fund flows, reportedly reaching around Rp7 billion per month and ongoing for years, involving many civil servants (ASN) across positions. Additionally, the discovery of two safe houses with seizures worth tens of billions of rupiah is seen as a strong indicator that such practices cannot involve only one entity.
“There is no logistics system that large serving just one client. Those safe houses are points of fund aggregation, not single transactions,” he said.
Given that scale, Gautama assesses that a case construction focusing only on one company could potentially not reflect the true situation.
“If only one company is designated as the giver, there are two possibilities: we haven’t seen the full picture yet, or we choose not to see it,” he said.
He reminds of the basic principle in operations that is widely known: one target is never alone. Gautama also assesses that halting the expansion of the investigation at this phase carries significant risks. From an operational perspective, this could give space for other parties to erase traces and adjust patterns.
“If the momentum is lost, the network will adapt. This is what is called target hardening. Once that happens, proof will be much harder,” he said.
From a legal standpoint, he believes there are no obstacles for the KPK to broaden the investigation. In the Corruption Offences Law, there is no limit on the number of bribe givers.
“If there is more than one giver, all can be pulled in. The law has provided the way; it’s just a matter of will to use it,” he said.
In the public sphere, several company names are mentioned as related in the same ecosystem, including PT Infinity Nusantara Ekspres, PT Benua Bintang Jaya, and PT Fasdeli International Express. Although there has been no official designation yet, the emergence of these names is seen as a test of integrity for the investigation process.
“This is no longer about technicalities. It’s about whether all detected parties will be acted upon, or just some. If only one, the public will read it as selective enforcement,” Gautama said.
He also warns of the potential weakness in case construction in court if the investigation is not expanded.
“The simplest defence later: if only one company, where did all that money come from? This is a logical argument that could weaken the case,” he said.