Cooking the Books

A series of WhatsApp text messages from an unknown number surprised Yulianto early last January when they popped up on his iPhone. Yulianto, who is chief of the Attorney-General Office (AGO)'s corruption investigation subdirectorate, considered the messages a thinly veiled threat: There was no identity listed, only a profile photo of the political party, Persatuan Indonesia (Perindo).

After he received a third message from the same number exhorting him to 'have nothing to do' with the Mobile-8 case he was investigating, as it was the responsibility of the board of directors, Yulianto became convinced the sender was Perindo's chairman Hary Tanoesoedibjo. "The clues are clear. He had claimed he was above the board of directors," Yulianto said last Tuesday.

February 9, 2016