TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The supervisory board of the Corruption Eradication Commission (Dewas KPK) recently discovered practices of blackmail and extortion within the agency’s detention center. The inquiry into this matter was based on initial rumors of the illegal practice taking place, according to the chairman of the Dewas KPK Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean in a press conference on June 19.

“It is true that the supervisory board members found and exposed cases of extortion inside the KPK detention center. This is why the board reported this to the KPK leader in hopes of following it up with an official investigation into the matter,” said Tumpak.

To date, the investigation to determine the truth behind the alleged illegal practice is still ongoing. How can extortion take place within an agency that is built on the principle against corrupt practices and how was it first discovered? The following is the complete chronology:

Initiated by Supervisory Board Members

After rumors of alleged extortion had taken place in the ecosystem of the anti-graft agency’s detention center, the supervisory board’s team initiated an investigation and eventually exposed that the matter had indeed taken place.

“This was purely the finding of the supervisory board, there were no complaints filed. The prisoners of the KPK detention center were blackmailed,” said one of the Dewas KPK’s members Albertina Ho.

The team’s findings were already handed to the KPK leader on May 16 and are being looked into for criminal aspects regarding the practice. Dewas KPK chair Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean assessed that from this case there were two elements that could be investigated further, namely the alleged violation of ethics and the criminal element.

The Actual Extortion

Albertino Ho believes the money surrounding the blackmailing practice was done through wire transfers, where perpetrators would use a third-party bank account. However, the details of this practice are still kept confidential as it is being investigated for possible criminal offenses.

“We will not transparently elaborate on the practice right now as the supervisory board is limited to ethical violation issues,” said Ho.

Detention Center Guards Involved

KPK deputy chairman Nurul Ghufron said the alleged practice involved employees of the antigraft agency’s detention center guards and maintenance workers. External involvement is still being investigated.

“This is actually happening and involving guards and maintenance workers,” said Ghufron. “But there are also external aspects, which we are still processing.”

Multi-layer Transactions

The antigraft agency suspects that the transactions in the blackmail practice were conducted in multiple layers, as in the money transfers was never direct between the victim and perpetrator, which is essentially intentionally done to hide evidence of the existence of the blackmail.

“We initially suspect that it was never transferred directly to the perpetrators but through convoluted layers,” said KPK deputy Ghufron.

Transactions Amount to Rp4 billion

The total amount of blackmail money is believed to reach a staggering Rp4 billion (roughly US$ 266,826) just from alleged transfers made from December 2021 up to March 2022. The leader of the Corruption Eradication Commission has been notified about this ordeal.

“This was purely the finding of the supervisory board, there were no complaints filed. The prisoners of the KPK detention center were blackmailed,” said one of the Dewas KPK’s members Albertina Ho.

KPK’s Response

In response to the Supervisory Board's report, the KPK Acting Deputy for Enforcement and Execution, Asep Guntur Rahayu, confirmed the report of alleged extortion that occurred at the Detention Center. Asep said that the antigraft agency is still conducting an investigation into the case and had asked about 20 people for information to explore the matter.

He emphasized that he would not discriminate against anyone involved in the extortion practice. "All parties with indications of corruption including members from the KPK itself, will not be discriminated in the enforcement of the law," said Asep.

PPATK Involved in Investigation

House of Representatives (DPR) legislator Didik Mukrianto urged the investigation into the alleged extortion case at the anti-corruption agency to involve the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), with the goal of comprehensively exposing the flow of money in the extortion and blackmail case.

“We don’t want the public to lose trust and end up being apathetic towards the corruption eradication done by KPK. The stakes are too high for KPK to not handle this in a proper manner,” said the Democratic Party legislator on June 22.

VIVIA AGARTHA F | RADEN PUTRI

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