Rendi Akhmad Witular, Jakarta – The uncovering last year of suspicious financial transactions involving the bank accounts of 15 police officers is believed to be only the tip of a corruption iceberg of monumental proportions that is slowly sinking whatever credibility the national force retains.
Apparently reluctant police investigators have so far managed to wrap up their inquiries in respect of accounts held by only two mid-ranking police officers, who, by coincidence, just happen to have no strong political connections. The findings of these investigations have been submitted to the prosecutors.
News of the suspicious transactions, believed to involve more than Rp 2 trillion (US$217 million) in total, was leaked to the public in July last year by the Financial Transaction Reports Analysis Center (PPATK), which appeared to be taken aback by the scale of police involvement in money laundering and corruption.
It is worth noting that the highest take-home pay of a four-star police general is about Rp 10 million ($950) a month.
After detecting the transactions in 2004, the watchdog decided to submit its findings to the police. They were only made public after police chief Gen. Sutanto took office in the hope that his reputation for integrity would serve to instill some seriousness into the investigations.
Among the police generals believed to be involved are former police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar, serving chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Makbul Padmanegara, and current Jakarta police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani. However, these officers have denied their involvement on a number of occasions.
Sources at the PPATK said the police were still slow in investigating the cases, apparently due to the influence the suspect generals still wield within the force, as evident from the fact that investigators had yet to request any further information on the transactions from the money-laundering watchdog.
"If they were serious, they would have at least asked us for more information that could reveal the involvement of high-ranking police officers. What they requested instead was only information on bank accounts held by officers with little or no influence in high places," said a source.
The leaking of the information on the dodgy accounts was the first piece of strong evidence to emerge about the amount of dirty money changing hands within the police, which is considered to be among the most corrupt institutions in the country.
Over the past two years, the PPATK has submitted hundreds of reports of money laundering involving the proceeds of high-profile graft cases to the police for investigation, but very few of them have reached the prosecution service.
The PPATK has also uncovered a host of suspicious transactions involving the bank accounts of a number of mid-ranking police officers holding key positions in the Papua regional police. The money involved is believed to be the proceeds of illegal logging.
However, little headway has been made to date in the investigations.
The only high-profile case that appears to be under serious investigation at the present time is that involving well-known banker Eduard Cornelis William Neloe, who allegedly tried to launder some $5.2 million through a Swiss bank.
Even in this case, however, after two months of investigation, there are no indications of when the police will submit a file to the prosecution service, leading to fears that the case may eventually be buried.
Neloe, a former president director of the country's largest lender, Bank Mandiri, managed to escape conviction earlier this year on charges of involvement in a banking scam worth billions of rupiah.