Jakarta – President Prabowo Subianto sacked his chief of staff on Wednesday for what his office said could be treason, a day after his arrest with two top police officers on suspicion of wiretapping the president, cabinet ministers and others.
Listyo Sigit Prabowo was among three serving police officers detained and accused of illegally tapping phones of the president, journalists, politicians, business people and more from 2025 to this year.
Listyo had been national police chief for five years before he became the president's chief of staff last month.
"This was, of course, carried out by certain rogue individuals, and we are also of the view that what was done may already fall into a category that can be considered an act tending toward treason," presidential spokesperson, Prasetyo Hadi, told reporters in announcing the sacking.
"It also tends toward acts that endanger state interests and the safety of the nation's leadership, including the safety of the head of state," he said.
Listyo has not commented publicly on the allegations.
Prasetyo said Wednesday said the motive was not yet known.
"When we talk about the head of state... there is a great deal of information there that is naturally very sensitive, which could endanger... the interests and the strength of the nation and the state," he said.
Prasetyo added that President Prabowo had expressed his "profound concern" about the revelations.
The scandal has come with pressure also growing on Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the son of Prabowo's predecessor and political rival Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
Jokowi"s party is a member of the ruling coalition, and his popularity is widely seen to have helped Prabowo to the top job, with Gibran by his side.
This year, opponents went to the Constitutional Court seeking to unseat Gibran, claiming there was no proof he graduated high school – a requirement for the vice presidency.