Police vow to fight case brokerage in legal system

Jakarta ; Police have said they identified a number of people to have allegedly acted as middlemen in smoothing cases by bribing investigators, pro-secutors and judges.

They reportedly vowed to catch them red-handed when they were in action.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said Wednesday that the police would also wire the police headquarters with CCTVs, including inside interrogation rooms, to monitor brokers in the event they bribed investigators.

“We have all the necessary information about these middlemen in our pocket, including their modus operandi.

“But we should wait and see whether they get back to their dirty business,” Edward said Wednesday.

He said that if the case brokers insisted on taking the same path again, then they would be arrested.

However, Edward refused to reveal who were the case middlemen, saying that mentioning their names might hinder further investigations.

Edward said the police would employ all resources within the force in order to track down case brokerage practice. “We will also implement methods that will limit the ability of these middlemen to commit corrupt practice,” he added.

Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi said that among the methods used by the police to limit middlemen was demand a case expose to the public every step of an investigation.

“By organizing a case expose, it will reveal if the investigators have been compromised,” he said.

Besides requiring a case expose every step of the way, he added, the police were also considering placing CCTVs in interrogation rooms to monitor ever interview by investigators.

The issue of case brokerage has always been a hot topic within the circle of law enforcers.

Many believe that these people were able to arrange victory for parties with the highest sum of money.

The issue has once again come to public attention after the Constitutional Court played wiretapped recordings that revealed a scenario to fabricate evidence to frame two deputies of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

In the recordings, a conversation was heard between Anggodo Wi-djojo, a brother of graft fugitive Anggoro Widjojo, several officials and former officials at the police and the Attorney General’s Office, developing false evidence to frame the KPK deputies and save Anggoro.

President Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono then formed a new task force to eradicate case brokerage practices, members comprising of officials from the AGO, the National Police and the Financial Transactions Reporting and Analysis Center.

Led by the former head of the Aceh Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, the team was aiming at supervising law enforcers to tackle the problem.

“We will encourage all law enforcers to provide regular reports every three months.

“We will then be aware of each step of the progress,” Kuntoro told 33 regional police chiefs at the National Police.

He said the team would first focus on rooting out corruption in police and prosecutors’ offices across the country.

Kuntoro added public services from the two offices must be reformed.

He cited the application procedure for a driver’s license, which he said must minimize the interaction between police and applicants, such as using an automated system.