Farouk Arnaz & Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – Despite catching flak last week for failing to follow through on an internal probe into suspicious money dealings by senior officers, the National Police on Wednesday risked more public anger by clearing two high-ranking officers of bribery claims.
Brig. Gen. Edmond Ilyas and Brig. Gen. Raja Erizman, had been indirectly implicated by the National Police's former chief of detectives, Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, who gave lawmakers the initials of two top officers who had received bribes in relation to a case against rogue tax official Gayus Tambunan.
The current chief of detectives, Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi, told journalists on Wednesday there was no indication of wrongdoing by the officers.
"What they did was only negligence because they failed to monitor their subordinates' handling of the Gayus case. For this mistake, they have already been reassigned," he said. "It's clear enough for us that there is no proof that either of them committed a crime."
Raja, former head of the economic crimes division at the National Police, is now an expert adviser to National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri. The same post has also been given to Edmond, who was removed from his post as Lampung Police chief in the wake of the Gayus scandal.
Comr. Arafat Enanie and Adj. Comr. Sri Sumartini are facing bribery charges in the same case.
Arafat is currently on trial for abusing his authority to help Gayus avoid money-laundering charges in connection to Rp 28 billion ($3.1 million) found in the former mid-ranking tax official's personal bank accounts.
According to Arafat's indictment, Edmond had signed an Aug. 21, 2009, summons that changed the status of Roberto Santonius, a tax consultant who was originally named as a suspect along with Gayus, to a witness.
The indictment also said that Gayus, after learning that he would be arrested, handed $100,000 to his lawyer Haposan Hutagalung to be passed on to Arafat's superiors, who were Edmond and Sr. Comr. Pambudi Pamungkas, but did not clarify if the money had reached the two. The indictment did not mention Raja.
Edmond and Raja were dragged into the media spotlight in March after Susno said two high-ranking generals with the initials EI and RE were bribed to influence the case against Gayus, who was later only tried on a relatively minor embezzlement charge and acquitted in March.
Susno's claims, however, have led to the discovery of a so-called tax mafia and resulted in two lawyers and a judge being named as bribery suspects in the same case.
Arafat has claimed that he and Sri were mere scapegoats. "I didn't work alone," he said after his trial opened at the South Jakarta District Court on Monday.
Meanwhile, a police team investigating the force's handling of the Gayus case was officially disbanded on Tuesday after it said it had completed its internal probe.
But Indonesia Corruption Watch deputy chairman Emerson Yuntho was disappointed in the investigation. "I think the team's work only touched the lower-ranking officers but did not dare to touch the generals," he said.
The National Police were also criticized by rights groups after revealing on Friday that of the 23 reports it had received linking police officers to suspicious financial transactions, only two pointed to criminal activity.