nvestigators from the newly formed National Police Corruption Eradication Corps (Kortas) has questioned former communications and information minister Budi Arie Setiadi amid a ramped-up probe into illegal online gambling.
Kortas deputy chief Brig. Gen. Arief Adiharsa confirmed that Budi Arie, now the cooperatives minister, attended the questioning on Thursday, but did not offer any details.
“Yes, he was questioned,” said Arief, as quoted by Antara.
The police have stepped up its nationwide crackdown on online gambling in recent months, including searching the newly rebranded Communications and Digital Ministry and detaining several ministry employees as well as social media influencers.
The police have detained at least 16 individuals, including 12 employees at the communications ministry for allegedly protecting around 1,000 online gambling sites, instead of blocking them.
Budi Arie is a close ally of former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, and had promised early in his tenure as communications minister to crack down on online gambling, which has led to widespread addiction disorders among the country’s poor.
He took over as communication minister in July 2023 after his predecessor Johnny G. Plate, a NasDem Party politician, was jailed for corruption in relation to a 4G base transceiver station (BTS) project.