KPK Has Information on Alleged Extortion of Foreigner's Residence Permit at Another Immigration Office

KPK spokesperson Budi Prasetyo

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has collected information on alleged extortion of residence permits for foreign nationals (WNA) at a number of immigration offices. Mapping is said to have begun based on public reports.

This was conveyed by KPK spokesperson Budi Prasetyo when asked about the existence of extortion carried out by the Immigration Office other than in the West Java, West Jakarta, and Bali regions.

"We also get a lot of information from the public," Budi told reporters at the KPK's Red and White building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta, Thursday, June 25.

Even so, Budi did not want to elaborate on the extortion at other Immigration offices. "This will certainly still be an expansion," he said.

Budi explained that his party continued to monitor the Immigration office in a number of regions, one of which was in the Bali region. The KPK is known to have searched the Immigration Office of Class I TPI Denpasar, Bali on Friday, June 19.

"Because of course we will monitor which locations are pockets of foreigners. In Bali it is one of the centers, there are a number of villages, yes, we know the Russian village and there are also several other villages. And in other areas, a number of foreigners also live, yes, that's it," he said.

"Later we will see the patterns in Kanim-Kanim, of course, we will also target to develop it."

Meanwhile, the acting director of the KPK Investigation Directorate, Ahmad Taufik Husein, said there was an allegation of a deposit of money from the Immigration Office of Class I TPI Denpasar to the former Deputy Minister of Immigration and Corrections (Imipas) Silmy Karim who had served as the Director General of Immigration. But he did not specify the amount because investigators were still investigating.

"There is a suspicion that the collection from Kanim Bali will be deposited to the center," Taufik told reporters in a written statement, Thursday, June 25.

The KPK previously named eight suspects from a hand-in-hand operation (OTT) related to the residence permits of foreign nationals (WNA) in the environment of the Ministry of Immigration and Correction on Wednesday, June 3. The details are as follows:

1. Head of the Regional Office (Kakanwil) of the Directorate General of Immigration West Java who previously served as Director of Residence Permits and Immigration Status of the Directorate General of Immigration Tessar Bayu Setyaji; 5. Head of the Immigration Office of Central Jakarta 2024-2025 and Head of the Immigration Office of Special Class I Non-TPI West Jakarta 2025-2026 Ronald Arman Abdullah; 7. Head of the ITAS Status Transfer Team Juniadi; 8. Head of the Immigration Office of Central Jakarta 2024-2025 and Head of the Immigration Office of Special Class I Non-TPI West Jakarta 2025-2026 Ronald Arman Abdullah;

During the silent operation, the KPK team seized evidence worth Rp. 17.5 billion. The details are 7 units of cars, 15 units of motorcycles, 11 units of bicycles, balances in bank accounts and crypto asset accounts, as well as a number of foreign currencies.

Then, the KPK also seized several units of bicycles; 4 Harley-Davidson motorcycles, 2 red and silver Porsche 911 cars from Silmy Karim's house in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta on Friday, June 5. All of these items were taken to the State Property Storage House (Rupbasan) Cawang, East Jakarta.

Silmy is said to have received money from the extortion of the management of residence permits for foreign nationals (WNA) since the Director General of Immigration for the period 2023-2024. He even continued to receive it even though he had been sworn in as Deputy Minister of Immigration and Corrections (Imipas).

The receipt made by Silmy was worth Rp. 100 million per week. As a result of his actions, he and seven other suspects were suspected of violating Article 12 letter e and/or Article 12B of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning Eradication of Corruption Crimes as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001 concerning Eradication of Corruption Crimes Jo. Article 20 letter c of Law No. 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code.