Former Subordinate Involved in Online Gambling, Here's Budi Arie Setiadi's Response

Minister of Cooperatives Budi Arie Setiadi (left) together with the President Director of Perum Bulog Wahyu Suparyono. (ANTARA/Muzdaffar Fauzan)

JAKARTA - Budi Arie Setiadi responded positively to the police's move to arrest a number of his former subordinates at the Ministry of Communication and Digital (Kemkomdigi) on charges of involvement in online gambling.

"That's good, as a step by law enforcement officers, we appreciate it," he said after attending the National Solidarity Movement Declaration agenda at the Indonesia Arena Senayan, Jakarta, Saturday.

Budi Arie, who has served as Minister of Communication and Information (Kemenkominfo) for the Advanced Indonesia Cabinet period since July 17, 2023, has handed over all law enforcement efforts against his former subordinates to the police.

Since being inaugurated as Minister of Cooperatives by President Prabowo Subianto on Monday (21/10), Budi Arie admitted that he wanted to focus on cooperative affairs.

"Basically, we respect the steps of law enforcement officers. I focus on managing cooperatives and the people," he said.

During his time as Minister of Communication and Information, Budi Arie focused on eradicating online gambling practices. Under his leadership, Kominfo has cut off access to 3.8 million online gambling content from July 17, 2023 to October 9, 2024.

The ministry has also blocked at least 31,751 gambling page inserts on educational institution websites and more than 31,812 gambling page inserts on government institutions.

"Okay, anyway, we respect the steps taken by law enforcement officers to eradicate online gambling," he said.

The Jakarta Metro Police announced the arrest of three new suspects in an online gambling case involving employees of the Ministry of Communication and Digital (Komdigi). With this addition, the total number of suspects in the case of unblocking online gambling sites has now reached 14 people.

"Today we have arrested 14 suspects," said the Director of Criminal Investigation of the Jakarta Metro Police, Senior Commissioner Wira Tri Satya Putra, to reporters on Saturday.

The current suspects who have been named are 11 people from the Komdigi Ministry and three others are civilians.