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Driving simulator graft scandal leads trail to traffic police HQ |
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Indonesia
TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The Antigraft Commission recently raided the offices of the Traffic Corps, Police Headquarters, on Jalan MT Haryono Kav 15, South Jakarta. Raids on Monday afternoon lasted until the dawn of Tuesday, July 31, 2012.
A Tempo source said the raid was linked to investigations into the alleged corruption in the procurement project at the National Traffic Police HQ of a driving simulator for driver’s licenses (SIM). Tempo magazine’s investigations unraveled what lay behind these allegations in its April 23 issue.
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It happened over a year ago, but Sukotjo S. Bambang still remembers that day well. On January 13, 2011, the CEO of Inovasi Teknologi Indonesia placed 100,000 rupiah banknotes into two used cartons of Honda spare parts. Each carton contained Rp2 billion. That same day, he carried them to Jakarta.
Sukotjo received a message from his business partner, Budi Susanto, CEO of Citra Mandiri Metalindo Abadi. This company had won the tender for the procurement of motorcycle and car driving simulators worth Rp196.87 billion, to be used by the Traffic Unit of the National Police headquarters. The two companies agreed to collaborate on the project. “The message said I had to reach Jakarta by noon,” he told Tempo in March.
Riding a Toyota Fortuner driven by his driver, Ijai Harno, Sukotjo headed for Jakarta. They were escorted by Kusno, a member of the Bandung Kulon Police. On the way, Sukotjo got a call from Budi, who wanted to meet him near the toll gate of Pondok Gede Timur in Bekasi, at midday.
Sukotjo arrived first. Budi appeared a while later in his black Toyota Camry. Sukotjo got out of his car followed by Ijai and Kusno also, moving a carton of the money to the trunk of Budi’s car. According Sukotjo, Budi then asked him to deliver the other carton to the office of the Police Traffic Unit on Jalan MT Haryono, South Jakarta. "Give the money to Pak Djoko Susilo," he said, quoting Budi. Insp. Djoko Susilo, then Chief of the Traffic Unit, is now governor of the Police Academy.
Budi later called Sukotjo to say that Djoko Susilo was not in his office. So, Sukotjo was asked to hand over the carton to Tiwi, Djoko’s private secretary. Sukotjo rushed to the Police Headquarters, reaching there at 1 p.m. He entered Djoko’s office on the second floor of the main building. "Ibu Tiwi was waiting in the guest room, and she took the box," he noted.
Sometime later, Sukotjo met a mid-ranking officer in the Traffic Unit’s Planning and Administration division who asked him about the money. He recalled the office handling the procurement document and asking, "Has the two-M package arrived?" Sukotjo promptly thought: the money in the carton must have been for the top official in the unit.
Interviewed separately, Budi Susanto confirmed that he had asked for Rp4 billion from Sukotjo. He did not deny the meeting at the Pondok Gede toll gate. Nor did he deny asking Sukotjo to deliver a carton of money to the Police Traffic Unit. But he insisted the money was not meant for Djoko. "I only asked him to have it kept by Tiwi, the person I know there," he said. "It’s my money."
Djoko, at an interview in his office in the Police Academy, Semarang, declined to answer the question on this issue. "Just ask the chief of the Traffic Unit about it," he said last Thursday. "I don’t want to comment on it."
By Setri Yasra, Syailendra (Jakarta), Rofiudin (Semarang)
Tempo Interactive
01 August 2012
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