Farouk Arnaz, Nurfika Osman & Nivell Rayda – The case of the disappearing magazines led police on Tuesday to accuse Tempo of making up the tale of having some 30,000 copies of this week's edition snatched off the streets by mystery buyers as a publicity stunt.

"It is only a marketing tactic," National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said in response to allegations that police had snapped up the copies early on Monday in an attempt to prevent a damaging cover story on police generals from circulating in the Jakarta area.

"It's bull&$#& that we bought all the copies. Where would the money come from and for what reason? We know we cannot stop the information."

The latest issue of Tempo features a cover story that investigates how a number of police generals allegedly came to be in possession of private bank accounts totaling many millions of dollars.

Edward did not comment directly on the allegations in the story, but he noted that making reports from the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) public is illegal. The agency tracks suspicious bank accounts and reports its findings to the police.

Edward said police had looked into 1,100 suspicious transactions found by the PPATK from 2005 to 2010, and launched full investigations into 800 of them. "From these 800 transactions, we found 20 related to police officials."

The magazine itself stopped short of directly accusing the police of trying to stifle distribution, but editor in chief Wahyu Muryadi said: "Logically, it must be people who have an interest in the issue, those who are trying to hide their misdemeanors."

The magazine has reprinted the missing issues for the Greater Jakarta area.

Meanwhile, Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force chairman Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said his team would not directly investigate the allegations surrounding the bank accounts but would supervise the proceedings.

"The National Police have already launched an internal probe. It is only fair to give them time to conclude their investigation," he said.

Kuntoro said the task force would coordinate with the PPATK to submit their findings on the accounts to the National Police and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Emerson Yuntho, chairman of Indonesia Corruption Watch, which earlier passed on allegations against one of the generals, said the KPK should take the lead, "because what the National Police have done so far is only make clarifications about the officials identified."

The magazine named six police generals as having suspiciously large bank accounts with mysterious transactions: East Kalimantan Police Chief Insp. Gen. Mathius Salempang; Insp. Gen. Sylvanus Yulian Wenas, head of the elite Mobile Brigade (Brimob); Insp. Gen. Budi Gunawan, the head of internal affairs; Insp. Gen. Badrodin Haiti, the head of the legal division; Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, former chief of detectives; and Insp. Gen. Bambang Suparno, a tutor at the National Police School for Senior Officers. Asked to respond by the magazine, the generals all seemed dumbfounded. "I only heard it from you," Mathius said when asked about his alleged Rp 8,553,417,116 ($945,000) account.

Brimob head Sylvanus told the magazine, "The money was not mine," when asked about a 2005 transfer of Rp 10 billion.