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Over one million people from across the globe, but mainly from Indonesia, have joined a group on the social networking website Facebook to show their support of the two deputies of the Corruption Eradication Commission KPK that were arrested by the police last week. Both are suspected of being involved in a bribery and extortion scandal that has rocked Indonesia.
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The national police chief in Indonesia, Bambang Hendarso Danuri, said that investigators had solid evidence in the bribery and extortion case involving two officials of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). He said there was evidence that businessman Anggoro Widjojo was implicated in the case as well.
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Yesterday, hours of recorded wiretaps were broadcasted live on Indonesian television when showed in the Constitutional Court after months of accusations between the national police and the corruption watchdog KPK. The tapes involve key law enforcement officials and put even more pressure on president Yudhoyono to defend his anti-graft credentials.
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The ongoing war between the Indonesian police, known to be one of the most corrupt bodies in Indonesia, and the corruption watchdog KPK with president Yudhoyono in the middle is heating up once more after the arrest of two other top members of the KPK two days ago. President Yudhoyono asked the police once more to release any evidence related to the case, because until now the police only pointed fingers but never produced any evidence.
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More people are pointed at as suspects in a corruption case at the Indonesian embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. After a team of investigators visited Thailand, they decided that the current ambassador to Thailand, Muhammad Hatta, also is a suspect in a case in which 2.5 billion Rupiah (176,000 euro) is 'misplaced'.
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NusaBali carries the story that the closure of at least four entertainment and accommodation venues by the Badung regency's enforcement agency (Satpol PP) is being criticized as an example of "selective enforcement of the rules." The four closed businesses in the Kuta area - The Wave, Holiday Colada, Wild Catz and Sara Residence are threatening to re-open unless the rules are enforced in a more even-handed fashion.
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After Antasari Azhar was arrested for his supposed involvement in a murder case earlier this year, the Indonesian corruption watchdog KPK does not have a leader anymore. A.A., as he is named popularly, has been put on non-active shortly after his arrest. Since he was the head of the corruption watchdog, there was no way that he would be able to return to his post, even if he was to be freed later on.
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The chief of the Constitutional Court, Mahfud M.D., has asked the national police to drop an investigation into deputy chiefs of the Corruption Eradication Commission KPK, Chandra Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto if no solid evidence was found. Mahfud said that he doubted that the commission leaders had really committed crimes an asked the police to publicly back up their accusations.
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Burhanuddin, a former governor of the Indonesian Central Bank has been given a three-year sentence for corruption by the Supreme Court. He will spend the prison term in the Cipinang prison in East Jakarta. "We have executed the verdict today," said the director for prosecutions of the corruption watchdog KPK, Ferry Wibisono earlier. While this case was handled by the special corruption court, Burhanuddin still had to spend the days before his verdict in detention at the national police headquarters.
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The former governor of South Sumatra, Syahrial Oesman, is facing a jail term of four years over alleged corruption of 5 billion Rupiah (350,000 euro). He has allegedly channeled money to members of the House of Representatives. "We demand the board of judges to convict defendant Syahrial Oesman in this corruption crime," said Zet Tadungallo, a member of the corruption watchdog KPK team of prosecutors.
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The corruption watchdog KPK has ordered six banks in Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan to close accounts of provincial government officials that were receiving interest from savings accounts that belong to their local administrations. Haryono Umar, staff of the KPK said that the banks would bear incentives for government officials that parked government funds in savings accounts.
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As reported on earlier, State Auditors recently uncovered the misappropriation of Rp. 3 billion (211,000 euro) in visa-on-arrival fees committed by 44 members of the immigration service assigned to Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport.
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It happens every year. In the run up to the holy month of fasting Ramadan, a part of the Indonesian police force is panicked slightly. They have to pay for their mudik (a trip back to their home town) at the end of the period of fasting and will have less work during the month itself because millions of people go home as well and public life changes drastically.
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The former mayor of the city of Manado, Jimmy Rimba Rogi, will hear today how long he will have to spend in prison for his alleged corruption. He will be sentenced by the Court of Judges for Corruption Cases (Tipikor). Jimmy is suspected of corruption with funds of the regional budget of Manado in 2006 and 2007. He is said to have caused the state losses of up to 69 billion Rupiah (4.9 million euro).
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As reported on earlier, 44 immigration officers at Bali's main airport have been under investigation for embezzling an estimated Rp. 3 billion (210.000 euro) in visa-on-arrival fees between October 2008 and May 2009. Kompas reports that a decision has been made by the Immigration Department to limit punishments to only disciplinary and administrative sanctions.
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Both BisnisBali and the Bali Post carry articles suggesting Bali has earned the dubious distinction of becoming a "heaven" for money launderers. The Head of the Bali branch of Bank Indonesia, Drs. Viraguna Bagoes Oka, speaking at a meeting on money laundering, said, "the potential (for money laundering) is very high in Bali, especially in light of the high level of investment activity."
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DenPost reports that 44 immigration officials are now being examined by the Anti-Corruption Board (KPK) in connection with the suspected embezzlement of Rp. 3 billion (US$294,000) by immigration officials at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport. The alleged corruption reportedly occurred between the months of October 2008 and May 2009 in the under-reporting of funds received from visa on arrival sales.
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The head of the Indonesian police has promised to act stern against police officers which extort money (pungli) when giving service to the people. "Related to the service we offer, police often would like to see that some payment is made. Who dares to do that, is at risk. We will put them on trial," said the head of the Indonesian police force, Bambang Hendarsono Danuri in Jakarta.
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Torture and other forms of ill-treatment carried out by Indonesian police remain rampant despite the government's efforts to reform the police force, human rights group Amnesty International said in a report released Wednesday.
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You think you can do anything in Indonesia because it's corrupt as hell? Forget about that one here. Indonesia is corrupt indeed, but if you don't pay enough to all those involved, only forget to pay one or if you encounter someone that is not corrupt, your about-to-open hotel ends up in a situation like this:
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Indonesian prosecutors demanded four-year jail term for a relative of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in connection with a scandal of embezzling over 100 billion rupiah (some 71 million euro) of central bank funds, local media reported. Aulia Pohan, the former deputy of Indonesia's central bank, stood trial along with three other former top officials of the bank at the anti-graft court in Kuningan in South Jakarta.
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Ever wondered what Indonesians do with a mayor, or someone else at a quite senior government level, has been found guilty of corruption by the special corruption court of the anti-corruption commission KPK? Well, it´s quite simple, most of those convicted criminals, because that´s what they are, will appear in local and regional newspapers, including name and ´mugshot´.
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The motive in the murder case on Nasrudin Zulkarnaen which caused the head of the corruption watchdog KPK, Antasari Azhar, to be put on non-active because he is a suspect in the case, has now changed from a love triangle to suspected corruption. There is some evidence that connects Antasari and Zulkarnaen with Sigid Haryo Wibisono in a possible corruption case at the Department of Social Affairs.
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Since 2005 up to April 2009, the People Against Corruption movement (MAK) in West Sumatra together with 15 NGO's and students has reported some 110 cases of possible corruption that occurred in the province from the lowest government level throughout the provincial level. Because of these cases, the government has lost some 128.4 billion Rupiah (9.2 million euro).
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The Greater Jakarta police is investigating the head of the Public Works department of Tangerang, Eddy Adolf Nicolas Malonda. He was called in relation to possible corruption with funds meant for the improvement of the Situ Gintung dam, which collapsed last week. A Jakarta police representative said that Eddy was called to give answers to some questions. "Until now the cooperation is optimal," he said.
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Four former Bank Indonesia (BI) executives have been formally accused of complicity in the illegal transfer of Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YPPI) funds to a number of legislators and ex-BI officials in 2003.
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Based on a survey held by Transparansi Internasional Indonesia (TII), the Indonesian police is seen as the most corrupt institution in the country. On the other hand the Council of Islamic Scholars (MUI) is seen as least corrupt. The survey was held between September and December 2008. Almost 4.000 people in 50 cities across the country were questioned.
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Yogyakarta, which is known as the city of education, has been named as the city most clean of corruption. Kupang, in East Nusa Tenggara, holds the last position and is seen as the most corrupt in the country. These are the results from a survey held by Transparansi Internasional Indonesia (TII), held in 50 cities in Indonesia during the months September through December 2008.
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Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) has evidence in the form of papers in which loans, which are signed by the minister of Religious Affairs Maftuh Basyuni and the general director of the Islamic department of the ministry, Taufik Kamil, are used to donate money to members of the parliament. The evidence has been handed over to the anti-corruption watchdog KPK last week.
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Prosecutors at the Anti-Corruption Court on Tuesday indicted Billy Sindoro, a former director of cable television and Internet provider PT First Media Tbk, for allegedly giving Rp 500 million ($46,000) as a bribe to a government official in charge of monitoring monopolistic business practices.
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Indonesia's anti-corruption watchdog arrested a relative of President Yudhoyono in connection with the misappropriation of millions of dollars in bank funds, media reports said Friday. After several hours of questioning, Aulia Tantowi Pohan, the father-in-law of Yudhoyono's son, was arrested Thursday in connection with an 8-million-dollar graft case at the country's central bank.
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Indonesia Anti-Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said that it has seized 194 billion Rupiah (12.9 million euro) in state assets from public officials during the 2007-2008 period, according to a newspaper on Monday. Indonesia has been combating corruption, which hampered its efforts in attracting foreign investment.
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Indonesia's corruption watchdog signed an agreement Tuesday with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to collaborate in the fight against graft, a spokesman said. Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, chairman Antasari Azhar and FBI deputy director John Pistole signed the agreement in Jakarta on training and the exchange of information and investigators, the commission's spokesman Johan Budi said.
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Since July 21, the former governor of West Java province, Danny Setiawan, was kept as a suspect by the anti-corruption agency KPK in a case related to heavy equipment and fire trucks bought by the West Java government with state funds in 2004. Yesterday, Danny Setiawan was officially arrested by the KPK.
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Indonesia's fight to curb corruption has led to a series of headline-grabbing investigations in recent months. Indonesia's leap from 143rd to 126th on the Transparency International corruption perception index last month is a small sign of improvement in a country widely viewed as one of the most corrupt in Asia.
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Another corruption scandal is set to rock Indonesia's central bank, as well as the country's parliament. New evidence has emerged that lawmakers were paid to elect Ms Miranda Goeltom as the central bank's senior deputy governor in 2004. A lawmaker has admitted to the Anti-Corruption Commission that he received some US$54,000 in cash, allegedly as a payout for favouring Ms Goeltom over two other candidates for the post.
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Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra has denied charges about misappropriation of liquidity credits from Bank Indonesia which are said to be channeled to the Clove Marketing and Buffer Agency (BPPC). Tommy was chairman when the credits were disbursed and he said that the BPPC had returned all of the credits, which reached 759 billion Rupiah (59.76 million euro).
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Global Fund, an organization that provides assistance to help deal with AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, stopped it's assistance to Indonesia last March on suspicion of fraud. Firman Lubis, deputy chairman for the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM), told that the funds stopped flowing to Indonesia after an audit held by Price Waterhouse Cooper.
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The head of Indonesia's state owned logistics agency Bulog, has been arrested in a corruption case over cattle import from Australia. A spokesman says the Bulog chief, Widjanarko Puspoyo, was named a suspect in the case just last week. The case is said to stretch back to 2001.
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During an interview with The Jakarta Post last Tuesday, State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra was asked whether he gained financial advantages through a case currently being investigated. His reply - an emotional outburst - came totally unexpected. "You have gone beyond the KPK. The KPK interrogated me only as part of procedure. I think a journalist cannot act as an investigator. You are going beyond your authority as a journalist. If you were a public official, you could be sued in court for violating... going beyond your authority. Journalists are employed to raise questions and not to act as investigators," he told The Post.
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The accountability and transparency mechanism of the House of Representatives (DPR), carried out by the DPR Honorary Board, is not thorough enough to eradicate corruption taking place within parliament. “The Honorary Board handles more issues that are related to public morality, such as Yahya Zaini,” said Adnan Topan Husodo, a member of the Working Board of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW).
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Indonesia's former dictator Suharto should stand trial on charges he embezzled at least US$600 million during his 32-year reign, his successor was quoted Friday as saying. The attorney general's office said recently it was dropping the long stalled graft-case against Suharto, who was overthrown in 1998 amid nationwide riots, citing a heart problem and a series of strokes that left him with brain damage.
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President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Indonesia needed at least 15 years to create a public life which is really free from corruptive practices. The president made the remark in a meeting with 500 Indonesian nationals at the auditorium of the Indonesian embassy in Busan, South Korea, on Sunday.
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President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has endorsed a request from the police and prosecutors to question seven more top regional administration officials in relation to separate corruption cases.
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Prosecutors investigating a graft case reportedly involving 1.3 billion dollars in loans from Indonesia's largest lender have named three state-bank executives as suspects.
Bank Mandiri's president ECW Neloe, vice president I Wayan Pugeg and corporate banking director Sholeh Tasripan were Wednesday declared suspects in the corruption case, the attorney general's spokesman Suhandoyo told AFP.
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President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has repeated his promise to seriously fight corruption at all levels of both state and private institutions, establishing a special team to strengthen and speed up his antigraft drive. "Once the anticorruption wheels and machine runs, (it must) never stop," he said in Jakarta on Wednesday after inaugurating the team, which is led by Deputy Attorney General for special crimes Hendarman Supandji.
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Under tight security, the Bengkulu District Court in Sumatra island commenced the trial on Tuesday of the city's mayor, Chalik Effendi, on corruption charges. During the first day's hearing, which was presided over by Aljaman Sutoko, prosecutors charged Chalik with directly appointing companies to 19 projects worth Rp 7.6 billion, instead of holding open tenders.
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Indonesia on Tuesday moved to dispel charges that corrupt officials were siphoning off aid earmarked for tsunami-battered Aceh province, as Southeast Asian nations sought to lure back foreign tourists scared off by the disaster. Indonesia’s Health Ministry, meanwhile, significantly changed the way it tallies deaths due to last month’s waves, saying it would only count victims who have been buried and that the missing would retain that status for a full year.
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Former dictator Suharto has topped a list of the world's most corrupt politicians over the past two decades. The list is part of Transparency International's new Global Corruption Report 2004, which charts the flow of stolen assets, recommends ways to recover money looted by despots, and sets out new standards on political finance and favors. Transparency International says Suharto stole about $15 billion to $35 billion during his 32 years of rule in a country where the Gross Domestic Product per capita hovers at around $700.
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On behalf of The United States-Indonesia Society and the National Commission on United States-Indonesia Relations, I thank you for this opportunity to present my perspectives on some of the major trends and challenges shaping priorities for U.S. policy in Southeast Asia. I returned yesterday from two weeks in Indonesia and also look forward to sharing my views on developments in that important nation.
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An Indonesian judge said last night he would quit in protest after a court overturned a draft ruling against parliamentary speaker and presidential hopeful Akbar Tandjung.
The Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a lower court ruling that Tandjung was guilty in a case involving about EUR 3,3 million in funds from state food agency Bulog.
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A decision by Indonesia's top court to quash the corruption conviction of Akbar Tandjung, the House speaker, has had an immediate political impact with a popular candidate for the presidential nomination of his Golkar party pulling out in protest.
Indonesia's Supreme Court on Thursday threw out a three-year sentence against Mr Tandjung for misappropriating Rp40bn ($4.8m, €3.7m, £2.5m) in state funds in adecision labelled by local activists as an embarrassment for the country's judiciary and Jakarta's supposed fight against corruption.
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The lack of political will to combat corruption has once again positioned Indonesia as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, anticorruption activists say. Quoting a survey released by the Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) on Tuesday, Emmy Hafild said Indonesia was the second most corrupt country in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after Myanmar, and the third in Asia after Bangladesh and Myanmar.
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A joke among MNCs says that there is little point pursuing Asian contracts without a sizeable chequebook. Greasing palms is a normal part of doing business. Indonesia regularly comes off worst in transparency and corruption surveys, but the country’s trade and industry minister, Ms Rini Soewandi, says a determined drive is underway to weed out corruption.
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Rampant corruption in Indonesia is hampering attempts to tackle the problem of illegal logging, according to a report. Indonesia's forests, home to endangered species, such as the orang-utan and Clouded Leopard, are being stripped.
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A court convicted Indonesia's parliament speaker, the head of former dictator Suharto's political party, and sentenced him Wednesday to three years in prison on corruption charges. Akbar Tandjung had been charged with embezzling $4.5 million in state funds intended for public food assistance, reportedly to help fund his party's 1999 election campaign. Tandjung was a Cabinet secretary at the time. President Megawati Sukarnoputri has promised to crack down on corruption after decades during which Suharto and his Golkar party controlled the courts. Suharto's 32-year authoritarian rule over Indonesia ended in 1998.
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The Indonesian government will soon decide whether to impose a state of emergency in Aceh, the rebellious and resource-rich region on the tip of Sumatra island. But if Jakarta were serious about ending the separatist rebellion in Aceh, it would not be talking about a military solution. It would be talking instead about ending corruption, upholding the law, and making the conflict less profitable for all parties concerned. Now more than ever, the war in Aceh is about money, and no one is clean. An autonomy law, adopted last year, has created a giant slush fund for provincial officials from oil and gas revenues, with no effective controls over how the money is spent. Every day, the local press carries stories about misspent funds, missing budget allocations, suspected cronyism, or crooked contractors.
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Former Indonesian President Suharto, who stepped down in 1998 amid widespread protests against his authoritarian rule, was charged Thursday with corruption. "Suharto's status, as of today, is as an accused," Yushar Yahya, spokesman for Indonesia's attorney general's office, told reporters.
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