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'Stacked' House confirms 'fat account' officer to head up national police
Jakarta Globe - January 14, 2015
"All my wealth is legitimate and can be accounted for," Budi told members of the House of Representatives' Commission III, which oversees legal affairs and approved his nomination.
The confirmation hearing was held despite the Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, having named Budi a suspect on Tuesday in connection to irregular transactions in his bank accounts, as flagged by the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center, or PPATK, the government's anti-money-laundering watchdog, in 2010.
Despite the KPK's move, the House decided to go ahead with the hearing, while Joko refused to withdraw the suspect's nomination.
Budi rose to national infamy in 2010 following an investigative report by Tempo magazine, based on the PPATK reports, that identified him as being among several police generals linked to "fat bank accounts" through which transactions amounting to millions of dollars were regularly being made.
Budi courted controversy again in 2013, when, upon filing a mandatory wealth report after being appointed the governor of the police academy. It was revealed that his personal wealth had ballooned from Rp 4.6 billion to Rp 22.6 billion ($364,000 to $1.79 million) between 2008 and 2013.
Budi told the House that the increase was largely due to appreciating prices of the dozens of properties that he owned.
"My title deeds [for the properties] had not been issued [by the time of the 2008 filing]. Since then, there have been several transfers of ownership, price increases, as well as assets sold. I have not manipulated [the wealth reports] in any way," he claimed.
He cited the example of a property he owned in Bogor, south of Jakarta, that he said was worth Rp 300 million when he bought it in 2005 and was now valued at Rp 2.3 billion. He also said he had an apartment, bought in 2004 for Rp 508 million, that was now worth Rp 2.5 billion.
According to Budi's 2008 asset declaration, he owned 13 properties in Jakarta, West Java and Banten provinces. The number rose to 37 in his 2013 report and the value of each of the properties he had owned rose significantly.
Budi did not explain how he was able obtained so much property based on his legitimate earnings in the police force. Budi submitted the 2008 wealth report shortly after being named chief of the Jambi provincial police.
Before that, he served only minor roles in the force, as a security aide to former president Megawati Soekarnoputri between 2001 and 2004; chief of the police's career development bureau (2004 to 2006); and head of the National Police's training center (2006 to 2008).
Budi acknowledged several large transactions through his bank accounts, as detected by the PPATK, but claimed they were related to his family's business.
"The transactions were linked to my family's business and several third parties as creditors," he told the House, claiming that he had formal documents with the said creditors to prove it. He did not specify what the business was.
According to his 2008 wealth report, Budi stated that he owned a restaurant and "a tourism object." His 2013 report states that the two enterprises were later sold.
The PPATK report "had been submitted to the National Police criminal investigation division and was investigated in a professional manner," Budi claimed. "The outcome [of the police] investigation concluded that the transactions were legitimate. There is no criminal violation."
PPATK chief Muhammad Yusuf said the transactions were made between 2005 and 2006. "They are worth tens of billions [of rupiah, in total]," he said as quoted by Detik.com.
The PPATK spent the next four years conducting an analysis, and in March 2010 sent the final analysis to the National Police for investigation. "In May 2010 we received a letter [from the police] saying that the transactions were not related to any criminal act," Yusuf said.
The PPATK chief said that in mid-2014, the KPK asked for a copy of the same analysis. "Our analysis just complements [the KPK's investigation]. The KPK already had enough [to start a case] from [Budi's] wealth reports," he said.
KPK chairman Abraham Samad on Tuesday declined to reveal more details about Budi's case, saying only that the bribery case "took place when he was serving as the head of the [police's] career development bureau [...] and other positions within the National Police."
Budi is charged under three articles in the 2009 Anti-Corruption Law, including for taking bribes. If found guilty, he faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
On Wednesday, Budi reiterated that he was "clean" and called the KPK's decision to charge him "character assassination." The KPK "violated the principle of presumption of innocence. [The charges] could shape people's opinion that I am guilty," he said.
Budi described himself to legislators as someone who stood against corruption, and pledged to make graft eradication his key priority if he was confirmed as National Police chief.
There will be "commitment for anticorruption, upholding ethics and morality [...] transparency in the handling of cases [...] upholding supremacy of the law [...] working with stakeholders to improve the competency and integrity of police human resources," he said.
Speculation is rife that the legislators, who did not challenge any of Budi's claims, were paid off to approve his nomination.
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