TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Jakarta Metro Police Chief of Public Relations Division, Commissioner Ade Ary Syam Indradi, stated that investigators are looking into allegations of money laundering in an online gambling case involving employees of the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs (Kemenkomdigi).
The move comes after investigators found several suspicious transactions. For example, thousands of online gambling sites were saved from being blocked by depositing cash through currency exchanges or money changers. “Investigators have also conducted searches at the two money exchange firms,” Ade Ary said.
The police have seized a number of assets belonging to Kemenkomdigi employees and other suspects. Among them are 34 cell phones, 23 laptops, 20 paintings, 16 cars, 16 monitors, 11 luxury watches, 4 tablet PCs, 1 motorcycle, 4 buildings, 2 firearms, and 215.5 grams of precious metals.
The police also found a total of Rp73,723,488,957 in various denominations. “The Indonesian rupiah amounting to Rp35.8 billion; 2.9 million Singapore dollars equivalent to Rp35 billion and US$183,500 equivalent to Rp2.8 billion,” Ade Ary said in his official statement quoted by Tempo on Thursday, November 7, 2024.
Ade said that investigators are still tracking down all parties involved, whether they are gambling operators or internal parties of Kemenkomdigi.
15 suspects in authority abuse
Ade Ary announced that the police have identified 15 suspects in the alleged abuse of authority. Those who were supposed to block online gambling sites from being accessed by people in Indonesia instead protected them and demanded payment from the site owners. “So they were tasked with blocking online gambling sites,” said Ade Ary at the site of the raid in Bekasi on Friday, November 1, 2024.
The suspects admitted to blocking online gambling sites every two weeks. If the site owners do not make payments within two weeks, their site will be blocked. This group charges a fee of Rp8.5 million per site as a service to prevent blocking.
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