Special Corruption Codes Entrap Silmy Karim and Others; 'Angel' Term Used for Payments to Immigration Officials

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has detected that the Deputy Minister of Immigration and Correctional Services, Silmy Karim (SK), has received illicit funds since his tenure as the Director General of Immigration. Based on reports from the Indonesian Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) regarding financial transactions involving 35 employees of the Ministry of Immigration and Correctional Services between 201lar9 and 2025, fund flows were discovered across 96 bank accounts totalling Rp366.7 billion.

‘The money was distributed to rogue individuals within the Directorate General of Immigration/Ministry of Immigration and Correctional Services every Friday. One of them, Mr SK, received a regular quota of Rp100 million per week,’ stated KPK Chairman Setyo Budiyanto on Thursday (4/6/2026).

To disguise the distribution of these funds, the KPK found that the parties involved used special distribution codes. One such method included the use of the term ‘angel’ to represent the distribution of money to high-ranking officials within the Directorate General of Immigration/Ministry of Immigration and Correctional Services.

‘Other codes included terms for band concert payments, such as vocalist, guitarist, backing vocal, and choreographer, which represented the flow of money to specific parties,’ said Setyo.

Setyo noted that the funds were used by the parties for personal interests, the purchase of assets, and business activities, such as establishing a towing company, in an attempt to disguise the receipt of the money.