Roesmanhadi vows tough sanctions for police leaks
JAKARTA (JP): National Police Chief Gen. Roesmanhadi will take tough action within the week against any of the 11 high-ranking National Police officers currently being questioned as suspects in the recent Timor car scandal, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Erald Dotulong said on Wednesday.
"Let's not make a big deal about this," Erald told reporters at his office on Jl. Senjaya, South Jakarta.
He said the questioning was connected with the recent National Police purchase of 213 Timor sedans, which were not only without invoices, but also allegedly purchased from car company PT Catur Gatra Eka Perkasa (CGEP) at a marked-up price of Rp 90 million per unit. The actual price is not more than Rp 51 million.
The alleged wrongdoing was first revealed by car company PT Timor Putra National (TPN), the initial distributor of Timor sedans.
"The special police monitoring team has found out that the National Police budget data on police supplies, including vehicles and ammunition, had been leaked to potential suppliers," Erald said, without elaborating whether the potential suppliers included PT CGEP or PT TPN.
"Gen. Roesmanhadi will take strict action against the officer or officers who leaked the information."
Erald, however, said that the monitoring team could not find any evidence for the purchase of vehicles and ammunition at an allegedly marked up price of Rp 4.53 billion, the cost which many officers said should have been less than half the amount.
Erald said the suspects included National Police chief's assistant for logistics Maj. Gen. Suprijadi, National Police chief's assistant for planning Maj. Gen. Adang Daradjatun, Logistics director Brig. Gen. Sistianto, Former Logistics director Brig. Gen. Bambang Susetyo, Chief of the treasury agency Brig. Gen. Darmadji SW, an employee of the planning division Col. Edhi Susilo Hadisusanto and from the supply division Col. Djori Ponto.
The monitoring team, established by Roesmanhadi on Nov. 2, and led by National Police inspector-general Maj. Gen. M. Nurdin, involves National Police officers from the divisions of law, intelligence and detectives.
When asked if the National Police would nail Brig. Gen. Bambang Susetyo, who had been replaced by Sistianto for reasons unclear, Erald did not comment.
A National Police source said Bambang would most probably be nailed because the team had enough evidence to prove that he was the leak.
"Besides, they need a scapegoat. There are just too many high- ranking officers here, who could never be declared suspects in this case," the officer said.
In an official letter dated Oct. 26 this year, an expert staff member working with the National Police chief Maj. Gen. Bibit Rianto had stated that Adang and Edhi Susilo were most suspected of leaking information on the National Police budget.
Break in
In an unrelated development, city police detectives and traffic police officers refused to comment on a Sunday night break-in and sweep at the Vehicle Document Service (Samsat) division at city police, where several important documents at the division's administration unit were found missing.
A number of officers at the city police's Public Service Center revealed that the break-in was made possible because the night guard, whom they refused to name, was not at his place on Sunday.
"The division is actually very easy to break into, once there is no one securing the place. The thieves broke in from the back," one officer said. (ylt)