TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Former minister of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo) Budi Arie Setiadi revealed that a suspect in the online gambling case at the Ministry of Communication and Digital (Komdigi) is a close associate of former transportation minister Budi Karya Sumadi. The suspect is identified as T.

Budi Arie, who now serves as Minister of Cooperatives, said T is the person who recommended Adhi Kismanto (AK) to him. “T offered several individuals as young hackers, including AK, who could disable 50,000 to 100,000 websites per day,” Budi said in an official statement released on Sunday, November 10, 2024.

Budi acknowledged his acquaintance with T, describing him as a political activist and a close associate of Budi Karya Sumadi. During the 2024 Presidential Election, T was part of the campaign team for the Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD ticket. 

Currently, T is involved in the support team for the Pramono Anung-Rano Karno pair, who are running for the position of Jakarta Governor. “T is the head of the social media content division,” Budi explained.

The Jakarta Metropolitan Police’s investigation into the online gambling scandal has uncovered the involvement of T, AK, and several Kominfo (now Komdigi) civil servants. This group operated a satellite office in Bekasi, where they protected approximately 1,000 online gambling websites from being blocked by Kominfo.

“There is no connection between their activities of protecting gambling sites and me,” Budi clarified.

The Jakarta Metropolitan Police has arrested 15 individuals, including 11 ministry employees, in connection with this case. These individuals were tasked with blocking online gambling sites but instead protected them in exchange for payments from site owners.

“They were supposed to block online gambling sites. They had access to view and block these websites,” said Grand Commissioner Ade Ary Syam Indradi, the Head of Public Relations of the Jakarta Metropolitan Police, in Bekasi on Friday, November 1, 2024.

The group charged site owners approximately Rp8.5 million per site for protection services.

Dede Leni Mardianti contributed to the writing of this article.

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