JAKARTA, June 4 (Reuters) - Indonesia's anti-graft agency has arrested the country's deputy minister for immigration affairs, a spokesman said on Thursday, making him the second high-profile government official in two days to face corruption charges.
The arrest came a day after Indonesia's Attorney General's Office (AGO) detained Dadan Hindayana, the former head of an agency which oversees President Prabowo Subianto's flagship free meals programme. Dadan was named as a suspect in a corruption case linked to the programme's governance and procurement.
The two alleged corruption cases are unconnected.
Silmy Karim, Deputy Minister for Immigration and Correctional Affairs, has been named a criminal suspect along with seven other people for his alleged involvement in a "systematic" extortion scheme that charged money to issue stay permits for foreign applicants, chief of the anti-graft agency KPK Setyo Budiyanto told reporters on Thursday.
Silmy had been questioned at the KPK's office since Wednesday night and emerged around 10 hours later on Thursday morning in handcuffs and wearing an orange jacket, indicating that he has been named as a suspect. He was then transported to a detention house.
The alleged corruption took place in 2023 to 2024, KPK spokesperson Budi said. Silmy served as director general for immigration affairs under Prabowo's predecessor Joko Widodo during the period.
Prabowo took office in 2024 pledging to eradicate corruption and crack down on the illegal exploitation of Indonesia's vast natural resources.
Separately on Thursday, an Indonesian court sentenced Immanuel Ebenezer, a former deputy manpower minister who was arrested last year, to four and a half years in prison for corruption related to the processing of safety permits, making him the first member of Prabowo's cabinet to receive a criminal sentence.
In April, the country's chief ombudsman was arrested just six days after his appointment for allegedly taking a bribe from a local nickel company.
"Honestly, we have been deeply concerned over the past two days by the repeated events which we clearly did not expect," State Secretariat Minister Prasetyo Hadi said on Thursday.
He said the government respects the legal proceedings being conducted by the anti-graft agency and the AGO.
($1 = 18,020.0000 rupiah)
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia; Additional reporting by Stanley Widianto; editing by Gibran Peshimam and David Stanway)
