Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Criticism levelled against the police's independent team tasked to handle the judicial mafia centering on former tax official Gayus Tambunan has mounted following revelatory witness testimonies in court.
Several suspects in Gayus' graft case have stood trial and faced witness testimonies that have raised suspicions the police's independent team may have tampered with the investigation into allegations some officers had manipulated the probe to gain an acquittal for Gayus, who was accused of money laundering.
Gayus was acquitted by Tangerang District Court in March but was brought back into police custody after former chief detective Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji leaked the alleged police corruption to the press.
"This is very strange. The independent team was supposed to probe the alleged judicial mafia-like practices, but they themselves acted like mafia," said Indonesia Corruption Watch's Febri Diansyah.
Suspicion is rife after the National Police only named two mid-ranking officers as suspects while clearing Brig. Gen. Raja Erizman and Brig. Gen. Edmon Ilyas. Susno said both Raja and Edmon had tampered with the case from the beginning.
Court hearings of the two suspects, Adj. Comr. Sri Sumartini and Comr. Arafat Enanie, revealed statements that strengthen the public's suspicion.
During Sumartini's hearing on Tuesday, Arafat testified he had been pressed to lie by detectives during police questioning. During the hearing he retracted statements he made under interrogation. One such alleged lie was that he was told to say he had received Rp 55 million (US$6,000) from Gayus' lawyer, Haposan Hutagalung.
During the same hearing, Gayus himself testified he had been forced by detectives to make a false testimony in order to charge Haposan.
Arafat also testified that detectives from the independent team once confronted him with the mysterious Roberto Santonius. The police earlier said Roberto was a fugitive and that they did not know his whereabouts.
Roberto's name first emerged when Gayus said he had received Rp 925 million in bribes from Roberto. However, Arafat's police testimony, which included Roberto's role in the case, mysteriously disappeared.
"I have told investigators that Roberto handed over Rp 100 million to Brig Gen. Edmon Ilyas (then director of special economic crimes) and Sr. Comr. Pambudi Pamungkas, my superior at that time," Arafat said.
Edmon, Raja, Pambudi and Roberto, have never faced crime charges or the ethics tribunal.
On Thursday, Edward, who earlier told the press that Roberto was missing, said Roberto had indeed met with investigators from the independent team.
Edward, however, refused to accept any blame for making a false statement to the press. "Don't call me a liar. I told you Roberto was a fugitive because that was the information I had from the National Police's detective body," he said.
Edward refused to elaborate on Roberto's current whereabouts. "The person in charge of the investigation was out of the city and out of reach," Edward said.
The head of the independent team, which was dismissed a month ago, was Insp. Gen. Mathius Salempang. Salempang was one of the police generals named in Tempo magazine's famous article on "suspicious" police bank accounts.