Even SBY has trouble cutting formidable Susno loose

A combination of a presidential order, mounting public pressure and a demand from a team of credible national figures, could only force Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, the National Police chief of detectives, to temporarily relinquish his position.

National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri angrily told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday that he had never dismissed his chief of detectives, despite President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordering him to do so several days ago.

“There is no such thing as a dismissal. The truth is he is temporarily non-active at his own will,” he said two days after wiretapped recordings played at the Constitutional Court revealed his alleged role in a plot to falsely incriminate two Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputies.

Susno’s defining controversy is his central role in what critics say is a blatant attempt to undermine
the KPK.

He created the "Crocodile versus the Lizard" term, of which the powerful crocodile symbolizes the police, while the inexperienced lizard is intended to represent the KPK.

Born in Pagar Alam, South Sumatra, on July 1, 1954, Susno rose to fame during his tenure as West Java Police chief from January to October in 2008.

He was earlier deputy chief of the Financial Transaction Report Analysis Center (PPATK) and in October last year, he was appointed as the police chief of detectives.

Although rumors that State Secretary Hatta Radjasa, Yudhoyono’s most trusted aide, had helped secure his appointment, many observers believe that it was his three years at the PPATK that saw him become a feared police officer among other generals.

In 2005, the PPATK submitted to then police chief, Gen. Sutanto, a report containing bank accounts of 15 high-ranking officials, each of which held billions to hundreds of billions of rupiah.

With generals on salaries of less than Rp 10 million per month, observers said the inflated accounts were proof of rampant bribery within the police force.

David Ridwan Betz, the executive director of the Alliance of State Official Watch, said the 15 accounts only showed the tip of the iceberg of the total number of suspicious accounts held by police officers.

He estimated there were at least 300 officers that had accounts with billions of rupiah.

He said that he knew that one account even contained Rp 800 billion.

The high-ranking officials with such suspiciously large accounts, he said, now occupy strategic positions within the police force, ranging from regental police chiefs, provincial police chiefs to other high-ranking officers.

As former PPATK deputy chief, Susno had access to data of the large bank accounts held by police officers, said Danang Widoyoko from Indonesia Corruption Watch.

“He knows the secrets of most of the high-ranking police officers. That makes him indispensable and very influential within the police force,” he said.

Danang urged the KPK to start investigating all alleged bribery practices in the police.


http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/11/06/even-sby-has-trouble-cutting-formidable-susno-loose.html