There is no way back into the police force for disgraced general Ferdy Sambo, as a National Police ethics panel upheld a decision to dishonorably discharge the murder suspect.
In late August, an ethics panel found that Sambo had disgraced the force by plotting the murder of his bodyguard, Brigadier Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat, and attempting to cover up the crime. Sambo filed an appeal against the verdict.
Today, an appeals committee denied Sambo's appeal.
"The culprit committed despicable acts so [the committee upholds] the administrative sanction that is the dishonorable discharge from the National Police," committee chair Commissioner General Agung Budi Maryoto said at the National Police HQ today.
It was always highly unlikely that Sambo would win the appeal considering that, to many, he has come to symbolize police corruption. Today's decision is basically a nail in the coffin of his career in the force.
Previously, police said that Yosua was gunned down by his colleague, Private Second Class Richard Eliezer, in a shootout at the South Jakarta home of their boss, then-Internal Affairs Division Chief Inspector General Ferdy Sambo, on July 8. The official line from the police then was that Yosua had molested his boss' wife, Putri Chandrawati, and threatened to kill her, before firing at Eliezer first after he was caught.
After intense public pressure amid glaring discrepancies in the case, an investigation by a special task force said that Sambo himself ordered the murder. In addition, there was allegedly no shootout, as Sambo staged the crime scene to look like there had been one.
Sambo has admitted wrongdoing but insisted, somewhat vaguely, that Yosua had conducted himself inappropriately with Putri. Police have yet to disclose the motive for the murder.
Sambo was charged with premeditated murder, which carries the death penalty under Indonesia's Criminal Code (KUHP). Eliezer, Putri, and several other accomplices have also been charged with murder, but there is strong suspicion that the conspiracy to cover up the murder involved dozens more members of the police force.
Source: https://coconuts.co/jakarta/news/dishonorably-discharged-police-general-ferdy-sambo-loses-appeal