Nivell Rayda – The Corruption Eradication Commission on Sunday pledged to investigate two suspicious bank accounts containing Rp 95 billion ($10.45 million) allegedly belonging to a two-star police general, almost two months after an antigraft watchdog first made the accusation.
Haryono Umar, deputy chairman of the commission, also known as the KPK, said the chief of the body's graft prevention division, Eko Soesamto Tjiptadi, would lead the probe against the general, identified only as "BG."
"We will seek clarification in the near future because there is a huge discrepancy between the allegations and [BG's] asset declaration," Haryono said.
The investigation team will not include any police investigators stationed at the KPK, to avoid a conflict of interest, he added.
The questioned wealth – which is more than three times more than the original Rp 28 million found in the bank accounts of former mid-ranking tax official Gayus Tambunan – was first made public by Indonesia Corruption Watch in early May through a report filed with the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force.
The documents submitted by ICW included proof that a general it identified as "BG" had two bank accounts containing Rp 47 billion and Rp 48 billion, and evidence of money transfers into his accounts from individuals and private companies from 2005 to 2008.
The file also included his asset declaration – as required by the KPK of all public officials – that put his total wealth at only Rp 4.7 billion.
"There were indications of bribery and illegal gratuities in the accounts," ICW chairman Danang Widoyoko said. "The KPK must investigate how a police officer can have Rp 95 billion in his accounts and from where it originates."
The ICW, however, was threatened with charges in return. Although he was not named, Insp. Gen. Budi Gunawan, the head of internal affairs at the National Police, immediately said he was considering filing a complaint against ICW as he felt he was the general to whom the watchdog was referring.
"Allegations of the accounts are untrue," he said. "The accusations were slander and an attempt to weaken and assassinate my character and that of the National Police as an institution."
Budi also said that under the 2003 Money-Laundering Law and the 1998 Banking Law, ICW did not have the authority to release the data – allegedly based on a Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) report – to the public.
The PPATK is responsible for monitoring suspicious transactions at virtually all financial institutions and submits reports of such transactions to the National Police for investigation.
"Where did [ICW] get its data?" he said. "PPATK reports are top secret and can only be accessed by the National Police or the prosecutors' office."
National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi has pledged to prosecute whoever leaked the PPATK report. "Was [the leak] inside the PPATK or from police officers receiving the PPATK report?" he said.
PPATK chief Yunus Husein has denied leaking the report to the ICW, while the watchdog has refused to disclose its source. "All the data originated from public complaints received by ICW," Danang said.
But apart from this ruckus over the source of the information, not much appears to have been done in terms of actually looking into the allegations.
Ito said the police force had launched an internal investigation, but he added: "For BG, it is clear that the money was connected to his son's business deals. The accounts were not registered in the asset declaration because they were his son's. There are no anomalies there."
Danang said police were not serious about conducting an internal probe of BG's accounts. "Is Ito's statement based on a legal investigation or simply clarifications from the officer in question?" the ICW chairman said.
Documents obtained by the Jakarta Globe appear to show a full investigation is warranted.
The PPATK report identified Budi's bank accounts as holding large sums of money, but said there was no problem "as long as its owner could show that the transactions were not related to his position."
The document also named two companies that had been recorded as having transferred funds into the accounts – PT Masindo and PT Sumber Jaya Indah.
A police source close to the police investigation said Masindo was a property developer that in 2004 planned to build an apartment block on land belonging to the National Police. In 2006, Masindo failed to secure a deal with the police, and several investors reported the company for fraud and embezzlement.
Sumber Jaya, meanwhile, is a lead smelter operating in Bangka-Belitung and accused in 2007 of buying lead from illegal miners.
Sumber Jaya appears to have transferred funds totaling more than Rp 8.9 billion between Dec. 5 and 13, 2007, to Budi's son Herviano Widyatama, while Masindo transferred Rp 1.5 billion to Hervianto on Nov. 17, 2006, the PPATK document suggests.
Hervianto transferred Rp 9 billion to one of Budi's personal aides four times between January to July 2008. The same aide transferred Rp 2.2 billion in June 2007 to one of BG's accounts.
Budi's asset declaration, a copy of which was obtained by the Globe, showed that in 2009 he claimed to have only Rp 363 million in cash and Rp 4.3 billion in assets.
The KPK recorded that Budi had two houses in South Jakarta measuring 761 square meters and 1,000 square meters.
Budi reported the two houses as having a total value of Rp 2.3 billion. A source close to the police general told the Globe that one of the houses was in the Cilandak area of South Jakarta. Land in that area is valued at between Rp 5 million and Rp 7.5 million per square meter.
Budi also declared having 12 properties in Subang, West Java, ranging from 1,623 square meters to 21,270 square meters. Budi reported the properties as being valued between Rp 5.6 million and Rp 74 million.
The Globe's attempts to contact Budi for comment on Sunday went unanswered. Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force secretary Denny Indrayana said the team would supervise both the KPK and police investigations.
"We will make sure the ICW allegations are thoroughly investigated before police conduct an investigation into who leaked the PPATK report or charge anyone with defamation," Denny said. "Those filing reports must be protected until it is clear that the allegations are false."