Police: PT TSL Bribed Juanda Customs Officials to Smoothen Illegal Mobile Phone Imports

The Corruption Eradication Corps (Kortastipidkor) of the Indonesian National Police has stated that PT TSL is suspected of providing bribes to individuals within the Juanda Medium Type Customs and Excise Supervision and Service Office (KPPBC) in Sidoarjo to smoothen the import of illegal mobile phones. “Current investigative facts show that to facilitate its activities in importing used mobile phones, PT TSL gave something to Juanda Customs officials from 2024 through to 2026,” said Kortastipidkor Operations Head, Senior Commissioner Yusuf Afandi, to the press in Jakarta on Thursday. He also revealed that a Juanda Customs employee with the initials AY, who was examined as a witness in the case, is suspected of acting as an intermediary between PT TSL and the Juanda Customs office. Regarding the alleged involvement of other individuals, he stated that this would be further investigated by officers. “We are awaiting the results of the analysis and deeper investigation from the investigators,” he said. On Wednesday (24/6), Kortastipidkor officers searched the Juanda Medium Type Customs and Excise Office in connection with the alleged corruption case involving illegal mobile phone imports. From the search, investigators seized a number of items as evidence, including mobile phones, CCTV recording devices, bank statements, distribution notes, deposit slips, and cash amounting to approximately Rp165 million and 14,200 Singapore dollars. Additionally, 22 grams of gold, land and building certificates along with sale and purchase deeds, eight building use rights certificates, one vehicle ownership document, documents for seven containers, and one file resulting from application mirroring were confiscated. This case is an extension of an alleged illegal import case involving mobile phones and other products from China, which was handled by the Anti-Smuggling Law Enforcement Task Force of the Directorate of Special Economic Crimes at the Criminal Investigation Agency. There are a total of four suspects in that case: DCP as the importer, SJ as the distributor of illegal phones, TW as the director of PT TSI, and MT as the director of PT TSL.