Top cop investigated for money laundering

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

A general is among seven police officers facing an investigation launched by detectives at the National Police for alleged money laundering.

Head of the National Police internal affairs division Insp. Gen. Yusuf Manggabarani said on Friday the investigation would likely start on Monday when he submits the seven names to the detectives.

Yusuf declined to identify the general, but said he held an important position at the National Police Headquarters.

The general is the fourth to be implicated along with three other regional police officers following a recent examination of their bank accounts, where transfers of huge sums of money were found.

In a a hearing with House of Representatives Commission III on legal affairs last week, National Police chief Gen. Sutanto revealed that three officers -- two active and one retired -- identified by their initials as Z, KM and MR were being investigated by the internal affairs division due to suspicious transactions in their bank accounts. One of them, whose name Sutanto refused to disclose, is a retired general.

The police internal affairs division conducted the probe after the Financial Transactions and Report Analysis Center (PPATK) submitted a report on money laundering allegedly involved 15 police officers, including some generals.

The PPATK said in its report that suspicious transactions had occurred in the bank accounts of the officers and that the amount of money involved was "huge", much higher than the salaries of even a police general.

Yusuf, who recently replaced Insp. Gen. Supriyadi after the case came to the fore, said that internal affairs would continue its investigation into the remaining eight officers listed by the PPATK.