Zaky Pawas & Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – Anybody claiming to be a member of the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force who conducts acts of extortion is without a doubt an impostor, its secretary said on Thursday.

Denny Indrayana was speaking in relation to the recent arrest of a man claiming to be a member of the task force, who had attempted to extort Rp 900 million ($101,000) from a businessman.

"There have been numerous incidents of people posing as members of the task force and extorting money," Denny said.

"There are just six members in the task force. None of us would ever solicit or extort money for any reason whatsoever. The members of this task force are all people of very high moral standards," he added.

"If anybody claiming to be a member of this task force extorts money, people can be sure that that person is an impostor."

Denny added that the task force had received hundreds of complaints about similar fraudulent schemes. "Please report to the police if you believe you're being scammed by someone claiming to be a task force member," he said.

On Tuesday evening, police in Jakarta arrested a man identified as Mangatur Simanjuntak, who had allegedly been posing as a member of the presidentially appointed task force since May 20, and had approached a businessman identified only as MH.

The victim's lawyer, Alex Pardede, said that Mangatur told his client that the task force had found indications of tax evasion linked to the victim's ball-bearings manufacturing company and demanded a kickback.

"My client had no idea what [Mangatur] was talking about, but [Mangatur] promised to stop the case from being prosecuted," Alex said.

"He claimed that he would need Rp 400 million for several presidential officials while the other Rp 500 million was for members of the task force, the National Police and the Attorney General's Office."

Alex said that at first his client chose to ignore Mangatur. "But he repeatedly came to my client's office and harassed the employees," the lawyer said.

MH immediately contacted the Jakarta Police and together they devised a plan to catch Mangatur in the act. On Monday, MH set up a meeting with the alleged impostor the following day at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

Mangatur showed up at the predetermined place along with three other men wearing military police uniforms.

"All men showed their identification cards. It was very convincing," Alex said.

"We'd even prepared Rp 60 million in cash, stashed in a briefcase with us. We talked for a moment but they all acted suspiciously. I think one of them was carrying a gun so I immediately signaled the police to come. They busted [the suspects]."

Police arrested all four men and took them to the Jakarta Police headquarters in South Jakarta. Adj. Sr. Comr. Nico Afinta, chief of Jakarta Police's violent crimes unit, confirmed that all four had been arrested but only Mangatur had been charged.