http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/police-allege-susno-took-rp-38b-in-bribes/375345
May 17, 2010 Farouk Arnaz Police Allege Susno Took Rp 3.8b in Bribes The police team investigating high-profile whistle-blower Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji believes it has confirmed evidence that Susno took bribes worth Rp 3.8 billion ($420,000), a police source has told the Jakarta Globe. "We are currently tracing Susno's financial transactions through the PPATK [Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center]," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We've already summoned several witnesses to testify." The allegations have been bandied about for weeks, but the mounting formal evidence seems to indicate that police are intent on building a series of cases against Susno, whose actions have deeply embarrassed the force by exposing alleged corruption at high levels. Susno is currently in detention and charged with taking a Rp 500 million bribe from lawyer Haposan Hutagalung via suspected case broker Sjahril Djohan, for which he could face up to 20 years in prison and Rp 1 billion in fines. The source added that investigators had also unearthed indications that Susno had ordered security operations for the West Java gubernatorial elections to be scaled down during his stint as the provincial police chief between January and October 2008, hinting at possible embezzlement of funds from the operational fund. "We've handed over this aspect of the case to the National Police's Anticorruption Directorate," the source said. He added that the financial transactions that ended with money in Susno's bank accounts allegedly involved Johnny Situwanda, a lawyer from Medan whose name surfaced previously in connection with Susno; a businessman; and Iskandar ZM, chief of the Bengkulu Public Works Agency. Johnny is a former lawyer for both Susno and former Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh. Abdullah was sentenced to 10 years in prison in April 2005 for graft in a helicopter-procurement project. In his last statement to the media, made four days prior to his arrest last week, Susno maintained his innocence. "All the allegations against me are baseless lies," he said. "I served as PPATK deputy chairman so I know how easy it is for banking or financial transactions to be tracked. Why would I take bribes through bank transfers?" A copy of a confidential PPATK report obtained by the Globe, however, said: "Financial transfers from Johnny Situwanda, [a businessman] and Iskandar ZM to Susno's accounts should be investigated on suspicion they may be linked to the latter's position as chief of detectives." According to the report, Johnny transferred Rp 1.5 billion to Susno's BCA account and Rp 1.1 billion to his Bank Mandiri account in March 2009. The businessman was reported to have transferred Rp 1.1 billion to Susno in March 2007, and Iskandar to have moved Rp 150 million to Susno in August 2008. Susno was made West Java Police chief in early 2008 and National Police chief detective in October 2008. He was deputy chairman of the PPATK from 2004 to 2008. The report said Johnny transferred the money to Susno not long after he received it himself in accounts at Haga Bank (now Rabo Bank) and Bank NISP. The transfers from Haga Bank were sanctioned by a company identified only as Little Giant Steel, and those from Bank NISP were sanctioned by an individual identified only as Kho Ing Tjiok. Iskandar was convicted of embezzling Rp 7.3 billion in disaster mitigation funds in 2008 and sentenced to 18 months in prison, but is currently free pending an appeal. He has denied ever transferring money to Susno in exchange for favorable treatment. Comr. Gen. Heru Winarko, deputy chief of the National Police's Anticorruption Directorate, said his office was looking into the allegation that Susno siphoned off money from the West Java election security fund. "We're calculating how much the state may have lost as a result of the scaling back of the operation," he said.
