Police Respond To ICW's Request To Withdraw Firli Bahuri Back To Bhayangkara Corps

ICW researcher Wana Alamsyah shows a complaint document related to the alleged receipt of gratuities by KPK Chair Firli Bahuri to the National Police Criminal Investigation Unit (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) wrote to the National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo to withdraw Firli Bahuri back to the Bhayangkara Corps. This request is the result of Firli's policies and decisions which are considered to have damaged the image of the Police.

"Our basis for coming here is because in our recent observations there has been a series of controversies that he created so that these actions undermine the image of the National Police in the eyes of the public," ICW researcher Kurnia Ramadhana told reporters, Tuesday, May 25.

Based on ICW's records, there are three things from Firli's policy that are considered to have damaged the image of the Police. Starting from the issue of Commissioner Rossa Purbobekti to the national insight test (TWK).

"First in 2020, there was a case of forced return of Police Commissioner Rossa Purbobekti. The second was a case of a violation of ethics involved while driving a luxury helicopter," said Kurnia.

"Third, the most fatal is related to the national insight test. Because in the national insight test there are two important issues, first there is a violation of the law because it is not in accordance with the laws and regulations. Second, there are indications of disobedience to orders from the President," continued Kurnia.

According to Kurnia, the focus is on Firli Bahuri because he is the head of the KPK. Firli is also a member of the National Police.

"Pak Firli Bahuri is the chairman of the KPK who has or is in charge of the highest responsibility at the KPK and because Pak Firli is still an active police officer, we have reported the person concerned to the National Police Chief apart from other reports to the Ombudsman that have been passed, Komnas Human Rights, Dewas, and so on," he explained.

In fact, a few days later, ICW also reported Firli Bahuri to the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Police. The report relates to the alleged receipt of helicopter rental gratuities.

"Today, ICW submitted information and reports related to the alleged case of receiving gratuities received by KPK chairman Firli Bahuri related to helicopter rentals," said ICW researcher Wana Alamsyah.

Alleged Gratification

The alleged gratification, said Wana, was due to information about the helicopter rental fee which was different from Firli's statement.

During the ethics hearing at the Supervisory Board (Dewas), Firli said the hourly helicopter rental price was around IDR 7 million. So for a 4-hour rental, the bill to be paid is around Rp. 30.8 million.

"But then we got other information from other service providers, that the hourly rental price is USD 2,750, or around IDR 39.1 million," said Wana.

"For us, there is a total of Rp. 172.3 million which must be paid by Firli in relation to the helicopter rental," he continued.

Thus, according to ICW, there is a difference between Firli's confession and the information obtained.

ICW said that the helicopter rental was also suspected of having a conflict of interest. Where, one of the commissioners of PT Air Pacific Utama as the owner of the helicopter rental service was once called as a witness in the Meikarta permit case handled by the KPK.

On that basis, ICW reported Firli. ICW asked the Police to investigate whether there was a crime of gratification.

"We consider that and identify that what Firli Bahuri has done, related to the alleged acceptance of gratification, has been included in the elements of Article 12 B of Law Number 31 of 1999 in conjunction with Law Number 20 of 2001," he said.

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Police Response

Responding to the complaint from the ICW, the Head of the Criminal Investigation Department, Komjen Agus Andriyanto, said that he would submit the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) complaint document to the KPK Supervisory Board (Dewas).

The ICW complaint document concerns the alleged gratification by the Chairman of the KPK, Firli Bahuri. Police, said Agus, did not want to be involved in the matter.

"We'll just return it to the Council. It's been handled (in the ethics trial)," said Commissioner-General Agus.

In addition, Agus also said that for now, the National Police will focus on preventing the spread of COVID-19. Then, help the economic recovery which continues to decline during the pandemic.

"Don't pull the Police. Right now we are focusing on handling health impacts and recovering the national economy and investment," said Agus.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Public Relations Division of the National Police, Argo Yuwono, stated that the answer was different. He said they had handled the complaint. They are still investigating the allegations.

"The report is being investigated," said Argo.

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