BIN Affirms That It Does Not Have The Authority To Arrest Corruptors

National Intelligence Agency (BIN) symbol (Photo: Instagram @binofficial_ri)

JAKARTA - Deputy VII of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), Wawan Hari Purwanto, said that his party does not have the authority to arrest criminals both at home and abroad.

This was conveyed by Wawan in response to the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) statement that asked President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to evaluate the performance of the Head of BIN Budi Gunawan because he failed to detect the whereabouts of the fugitive Cessie Bank Bali case, Djoko Tjandra, so he could easily travel to Indonesia.

"Based on Article 30 of Law Number 17 Year 2011, BIN does not have the authority to arrest both inside and outside the country. BIN is not a law enforcement agency. BIN provides input to the President which is strategic regarding state security," said Wawan in a written statement, Wednesday, July 29.

Even so, Wawan emphasized that BIN is coordinating with domestic and foreign intelligence agencies in order to hunt down corruptors behind closed doors. This, he said, occurred during the arrest of Totok Ari Prabowo and Samadikun Hartono.

"Likewise in the case of Maria Pauline Lumowa whose spearhead is the Ministry of Law and Human Rights," he said.

Through the regulation, Wawan said that BIN had the authority to carry out operations abroad to pursue fugitive corruptors. He added, BIN also has representatives abroad where corruptors hide. However, not all of these countries have extradition agreements with Indonesia.

Furthermore, he said that most of the corruptors filed a review, including Djoko Tjandra, and those who were authorized to judge the appropriateness of PK submissions based on new evidence or novum held were the judiciary.

"If there is a violation in the SOP for the PK submission process, there will be an action or sanction and BIN has no authority to intervene in the legal process," said Henry.

Previously, ICW requested that BIN be evaluated by President Jokowi because it was deemed unable to trace the whereabouts of fugitive Djoko Tjandra.

"The case of Djoko Tjandra shows that BIN does not have the ability to trace the whereabouts of these big corruptors starting from entering Indonesian jurisdiction, obtaining passports, making electronic ID cards, to registering reconsiderations with the South Jakarta District Court," said ICW researcher Kurnia Ramadhana in a written statement.

Furthermore, Kurnia said that BIN actually had the experience of repatriating corrupt fugitives, namely Totok Ari Prabowo, the former Regent of Temanggung who was arrested in Cambodia in 2015 and Samadikun Hartono in China in 2016. However, under Budi Gunawan's leadership, BIN was unable to detect the the corrupt fugitive.

Thus, the pressure for Jokowi to evaluate the performance of BIN Head Budi Gunawan emerged. Moreover, referring to the Excerpted Budget Implementation List (DIPA) for the 2020 Fiscal Year, the state provided a budget allocation for BIN of Rp. 7.4 trillion, of which Rp. 2 trillion was used for foreign intelligence operations.

"Therefore, ICW urges President Joko Widodo to immediately evaluate the performance of the Head of BIN, Budi Gunawan, because he was proven to have failed in detecting a fugitive in the corruption case, Djoko Tjandra, so that he can easily travel to Indonesia," he said.

After pressing for an evaluation, ICW also urged that the Head of BIN Budi Gunawan be removed from his position if he is found not providing information about the entry of fugitive corruptors to President Jokowi and other law enforcement officials.