Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri has been accused of trying to protect eight generals under investigation for allegedly supporting gambling rings in Riau province.

Bambang said Wednesday the police generals were only guilty of "managerial faults" in the case now being investigated by his office's internal affairs division.

Legislators and observers were quick to slam the statement, saying it would confuse the public and hamper efforts to clean up corruption within the police force.

They said it was impossible for the gambling activities to have continued under the noses of the province's police chiefs and their subordinates without them knowing about it.

"It is illogical to say the police didn't know about the gambling. So, I believe they know but they let it continue," said Gayus Lumbuun, a member of the House of Representatives Commission III overseeing legal affairs.

He said he and fellow legislators would demand Bambang explain his comments during a hearing between the commission and the National Police later this month.

"The investigation should not stop with the probe by an internal affairs team. An external investigation is needed to get fair and transparent results to avoid public suspicions and regain their trust," said Gayus, a senior politician of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Eight generals – all former Riau police chiefs and their deputies – are being investigated for their alleged roles in supporting and turning a blind eye to massive gambling rings in the province that raked in Rp 3 billion a day.

Their former subordinates, numbering more than a hundred, are also being probed for similar charges.

National Police chief of internal affairs Insp. Gen. Alantin Simanjuntak said Monday the eight generals would at the least be charged with allowing gambling to take place within their respective jurisdictions in Riau since 2001.

However, Bambang said the generals – six one-star generals and two two-star generals – had never covered for the gambling syndicates.

Legal expert Rudy Satrio, also a lecturer at the University of Indonesia, said it was a criminal offense for a police officer to not act against a crime they knew to be in progress, and that the former police chiefs in question should be charged under the Criminal Code rather than the police force's internal code of ethics.

"What the public wants is law enforcement, not an ethical probe that lacks transparency and sparks suspicions," he said.

He said a failure by the police to charge the implicated under the Criminal Code would undermine the national deterrent against gambling and encourage crime lords to take up the practice.

Adnan Pandupraja of the National Police Commission – an official body established under the law to monitor police officers – said his office could not yet take action because there was as of yet no incriminating evidence.

"If the police chief says it is a managerial mistake then we can't do anything about it. We are waiting for a report from the public, and it is better if it is backed up with strong evidence," he said.