Jakarta – In response to an Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) report to the Judiciary Mafia Taskforce on forestry-related crimes, police said Friday that they stopped the investigation into 14 cases because evidence supplied by Riau Police was insufficient.

Police deputy spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis said all 14 cases files were repeatedly returned to police by prosecutors. "We decided to stop the investigation, otherwise the cycle would never end," he said. He said police would reopen the investigation when they had new evidence.

On Thursday, ICW reported 12 officials to the Taskforce for their alleged role in stopping the investigations. They included two National Police officers who once served in Riau, a Forestry Ministry official, four regents, the Riau governor and four former provincial forestry agency officials. ICW said state losss from the crimes reached Rp 2.2 trillion.