Susno Duadji has grabbed headlines with his accusationthat high-ranking National Police officers took bribes to drop a case
The National Police on Wednesday followed through on threats to silence renegade Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji by naming him as a suspect in a criminal defamation complaint filed by two senior police officials. They say he accused them of taking bribes in return for halting a probe into a Rp 25 billion ($2.75 million) corruption case.
Lampung Police Chief Brig. Gen. Edmond Ilyas and Brig. Gen. Radja Erisman, the National Police director of economic crimes, based their complaint on television footage of Susno speaking to reporters. They were among three officials believed to have been identified by Susno by their ranks and initials during a televised news conference last week.
Susno, the former National Police chief of detectives, said after being declared a suspect that he was ready for the consequences. “I am ready to face every possibility including facing a libel case.”
Susno has gone from jailing two senior Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) officials on questionable bribery charges to being a criminal suspect in just six months. He said he was also ready for an police hearing this week to address professional misconduct for his being off duty for 78 days without notice after being relieved of his post on Nov. 30, after he was implicated for allegedly framing the KPK commissioners.
National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said the hearing on Susno’s conduct was an internal police matter. “I will take responsibility and I will decide what kind of punishment we will make,” he said.
Bambang acknowledged, however, that something “strange” occurred during the investigation into Gayus Tambunan, 30, a tax official who was investigated last year concerning Rp 25 billion he had in two bank accounts.
Susno claims the sum was a bribe for the three police officials he identified by name and rank.
Police say they only found Rp 395 million of the funds in Gayus’s accounts to be illegal, which they reported to prosecutors. In October, police charged Gayus with money laundering, corruption and embezzlement. Prosecutors, however, only indicted him for embezzlement, for which the Tangerang District Court acquitted him on March 12.
“Its abnormal because my investigator never arrested the suspect [Gayus] even though he was charged under the anticorruption law,” Bambang said. “And there is another suspect involved with this case with the initial ‘R’ [believed to be tax official Robertus Santonius] but his dossier was never transferred to the prosecutor. What happened?”
Bambang said he would establish an independent team to investigate the tax case and invited the judicial mafia task force and National Police Commission to join.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said the time had come to take firm action against Susno.
“It’s not because we are running out of patience, but because we need to protect the morale of our 400,000 officers who are now waiting to see how we handle this case,” he said, adding that Susno would be summoned to appear at the internal affairs division on Friday.
Lampung Police Chief Brig. Gen. Edmond Ilyas and Brig. Gen. Radja Erisman, the National Police director of economic crimes, based their complaint on television footage of Susno speaking to reporters. They were among three officials believed to have been identified by Susno by their ranks and initials during a televised news conference last week.
Susno, the former National Police chief of detectives, said after being declared a suspect that he was ready for the consequences. “I am ready to face every possibility including facing a libel case.”
Susno has gone from jailing two senior Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) officials on questionable bribery charges to being a criminal suspect in just six months. He said he was also ready for an police hearing this week to address professional misconduct for his being off duty for 78 days without notice after being relieved of his post on Nov. 30, after he was implicated for allegedly framing the KPK commissioners.
National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said the hearing on Susno’s conduct was an internal police matter. “I will take responsibility and I will decide what kind of punishment we will make,” he said.
Bambang acknowledged, however, that something “strange” occurred during the investigation into Gayus Tambunan, 30, a tax official who was investigated last year concerning Rp 25 billion he had in two bank accounts.
Susno claims the sum was a bribe for the three police officials he identified by name and rank.
Police say they only found Rp 395 million of the funds in Gayus’s accounts to be illegal, which they reported to prosecutors. In October, police charged Gayus with money laundering, corruption and embezzlement. Prosecutors, however, only indicted him for embezzlement, for which the Tangerang District Court acquitted him on March 12.
“Its abnormal because my investigator never arrested the suspect [Gayus] even though he was charged under the anticorruption law,” Bambang said. “And there is another suspect involved with this case with the initial ‘R’ [believed to be tax official Robertus Santonius] but his dossier was never transferred to the prosecutor. What happened?”
Bambang said he would establish an independent team to investigate the tax case and invited the judicial mafia task force and National Police Commission to join.
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said the time had come to take firm action against Susno.
“It’s not because we are running out of patience, but because we need to protect the morale of our 400,000 officers who are now waiting to see how we handle this case,” he said, adding that Susno would be summoned to appear at the internal affairs division on Friday.
