Jakarta, Legal Literacy - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has detained 15 suspects who allegedly extorted prisoners at the KPK Branch Detention Center. The suspects, including the Head of the KPK Branch Detention Center Achmad Fauzi and 7 civil servants, are suspected of carrying out illegal levies (pungli) and providing exclusive facilities for prisoners who are willing to pay.

"The KPK has named 15 suspects in the extortion case against prisoners at the KPK Detention Center," said the Director of Investigation KPK Asep Guntur Rahayu at a press conference in Jakarta, Friday (15/3).

Asep explained that the suspects used special terms in carrying out their actions, such as "flood" for inspections, "birdcage" and "corn feed" for money transactions, and "bottle" for cellphones and cash.

The modus operandi is that the suspects appoint a "headman" in each detention center who is in charge of collecting money from the prisoners through the prisoner coordinator (korting). The money is then distributed to the suspects according to their roles and positions.

"The amount of money required to obtain these services varies, ranging from Rp 300,000 to Rp 20 million," said Asep.

Prisoners who do not or are late in providing money will receive unpleasant treatment, such as locking the prison cell from the outside, restricting and reducing exercise time, and assigning heavier guard and cleaning duties.

The total money received by the suspects from 2019 to 2023 reached approximately Rp 6.3 billion.

"The KPK does not tolerate any form of violation, including ethical violations and criminal acts of corruption," said KPK Deputy Chairman Nurul Ghufron.

Ghufron emphasized that the KPK will take firm action against the perpetrators and make improvements in the management and governance of the detention center.

"We also conduct regular surprise inspections at the detention center. We have installed CCTV at several points that were previously unmonitored, and increased supervision in stages from superiors," said Secretary General of the KPK Cahya H Harefa.

Chronology

  • 2018: Hengki started working at the KPK detention center.
  • 2019: Deden, Hengki, Ridwan, Ramadhan, and Ricky gathered in Tebet and appointed a "headman" at the KPK detention center.
  • 2020: Changes in the composition of the "headman".
  • 2022: Achmad Fauzi became the definitive Head of the KPK Detention Center and continued the appointment of "korting".

KPK Actions

  • Detaining 15 suspects for 20 days.
  • Apologizing to the people of Indonesia.
  • Conducting investigations into ethical violations, disciplinary actions, and law enforcement.
  • Improving management and governance.

Conclusion

This case is a hard slap in the face for the KPK and is proof that there are still individuals who lack integrity in the anti-corruption agency. The KPK is expected to resolve this case transparently and give the perpetrators a commensurate punishment.