Nurfika Osman – Tens of thousands of copies of the latest edition of Tempo magazine were purchased by mystery buyers early on Monday morning.
The issue features an investigative look at a senior police officer with a bank account alleged to contain $10.45 million.
Saragih, a Tempo agent in Pramuka, East Jakarta, was quoted by the magazine's Web site, Tempointeraktif.com, as saying that a group of people bought his entire stock of 700 copies at 4 a.m. "At dawn, the magazines were bought by people who looked like police. But they weren't wearing uniforms," Saragih told Tempo.
Tempo's main story for this week's edition is titled "Rekening Gendut Perwira Polisi" ("Fat Bank Account of a Police Officer").
The story is a look at the suspiciously hefty bank accounts of police generals. The story is illustrated by a picture of a police officer being led by three leashed piggy banks.
Windalaksana, Tempo's head of circulation and distribution, told the Web site that tens of thousands of copies had been purchased since dawn. A magazine spokesperson said Tempo editors were currently in a meeting.
"We are aware that the magazine is missing from the market but we can't give any comments because the editors are holding an internal meeting," she said.