The Prosecutors’ Dirty Cleanup
Monday, January 12, 2026
The AGO is not serious about cleaning up its staff involved in extortion. A stance supported by the weak KPK.
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THE attorney’s broom seems to be too weak to clear out the trash from its own house. This lack of seriousness is apparent from the handling of the alleged extortion by prosecutors from the Banten High Prosecutor’s Office. The victims were two people, one of them a South Korean national. Unfortunately, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has also failed to carry out its responsibility to help clean up this institution.
The anti-graft agency initially arrested nine people, including three prosecutors, on December 17, 2025. These prosecutors, along with a lawyer and a translator, were accused of extorting two people facing prosecution in a local court. They allegedly threatened to seek heavier sentences and place the victims in detention if they failed to hand over a sum of money.
Criminal acts within this law enforcement institution should have served as momentum to clean up the Attorney General’s Office (AGO). Unfortunately, the institution instead hastily builds up the wall to prevent the case from spreading further.
The leaders of the AGO snuck in and took over the extortion case. The KPK, meanwhile, simply gave in under the pretext of exercising its coordination and supervision function. However, the handing over of the case to the AGO led to a conflict of interest.
It is possible that the KPK was insufficiently assertive when it made the arrests. Through the Deputy Attorney General for Intelligence team, the extorting prosecutors had returned the extorted money to the victims. Since the return of illicit funds does not erase the crime, the KPK should have pursued other avenues to secure evidence of the extortion.
The AGO claimed it had already begun investigating the same case. The prosecution said it had received information about the matter a month before the KPK apprehended the perpetrators.
At that time, however, top officials at the AGO stated they were focused on efforts to return the extorted funds to the victims. An investigation warrant (sprindik) was only issued a day after the KPK sting operation. Three prosecutors from the Banten High Prosecutor’s Office and the Tangerang District Prosecutor’s Office were subsequently named as suspects.
The wall stood firm. The investigation into the alleged extortion stopped with those three prosecutors.
This is not the first time a probe into corrupt prosecutors has hit a dead end. Look at the handling of the case involving prosecutor Pinangki Sirna Malasari. She was proven guilty of accepting bribes, money laundering, and conspiring to assist fugitive businessman Joko Soegiarto Tjandra. In 2021, when Pinangki’s crimes were exposed, there was a strong indication that senior officials at the Attorney General’s Office were involved. As might be expected, the handling of that case also stalled, obstructed by that same sturdy wall.
According to Indonesia Corruption Watch, 45 prosecutors were arrested for corruption between 2006 and 2025. Some of them were involved in the justice mafia network. This series of crimes will never end if the AGO’s broom is not strong enough to clean up the trash in its own house. Even more so if the KPK is too weak to stand up to it.
