Former Minister of Communication and Informatics (Kominfo), Budi Arie Setiadi, has alleged the presence of individuals linked to online gambling within the ministry before his tenure began.
“From the moment I took office, I already suspected there were people involved,” Budi Arie, who is now Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), said in a podcast with Deddy Corbuzier on Wednesday, November 20, 2024.
He noted that online gambling activities had been present since 2017, years before his appointment to Kominfo in 2023.
Budi Arie revealed he had reassigned a staff member, identified by the initials DI, who previously led the team responsible for handling negative content team.
“DI should not continue as the takedown (of negative content) team leader. We implemented rotations every three months because I knew things weren’t clean internally,” he said.
Another official, referred to as T, suggested hiring external personnel due to budget constraints. One of these recruits, AK, was included in a specialized team for blocking negative sites, including gambling platforms.
AK, despite being a vocational school graduate, developed a system capable of significantly increasing the ministry’s capacity to block online gambling websites − from 10,000 sites per day to 50,000–100,000.
Complex networks
Budi Arie acknowledged the complexity of the online gambling network, stating that transactions involved multiple intermediaries.
“For instance, money is distributed among ten people, then split to five, then three, and finally one. The chain is too extensive,” he said.
However, he admitted he lacked knowledge about the amounts exchanged or specific individuals involved, leaving the investigation to law enforcement.
Despite his suspicions, Budi Arie chose not to report these issues to the police. He did not specify the reasons for this decision but expressed satisfaction that individuals linked to online gambling within the ministry, now under Kominfo’s Digital Communication Directorate (Komdigi), had been exposed.
Budi Arie also emphasized his willingness to cooperate in ongoing investigations and denied any personal involvement in online gambling.
