Police Continue Search at Shophouse in Cipete, South Jakarta

The Jakarta Metropolitan Police have conducted another search related to a corruption investigation. This time, police searched a shophouse located in the Cipete area of South Jakarta. The Head of Public Relations for the Jakarta Metropolitan Police, Senior Commissioner Budi Hermanto, confirmed the search. Officers arrived at around 11.15 pm Western Indonesian Time, with personnel from the Corruption Eradication Taskforce seen wearing identifying vests. Police placed a line at the front of the shophouse, and an orange mobile forensic laboratory vehicle was parked nearby. ‘It is true (a search was conducted),’ Budi Hermanto told reporters on Thursday. He did not provide further details regarding the search, stating that officers are still conducting an in-depth investigation. Previously, the Jakarta Metropolitan Police carried out a series of searches on Wednesday at several locations, including a money changer and the de’Clan Signature café in Cipete, South Jakarta, as well as a house in Bogor, West Java. During those searches, police seized evidence including gold bars and foreign currency worth billions of rupiah. The series of searches is related to three suspected corruption cases. The Head of the National Police’s Corruption Eradication Taskforce, Inspector General Totok Suharyanto, stated that the investigations are being handled jointly with the Special Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police. He said the cases involve alleged corruption in coal procurement that triggered a blackout, the ASABRI insurance case, and the settlement of debt from PT CBS to PT KNI, a subsidiary of the state-owned enterprise Krakatau Steel.