The Bali Prosecutors Office has confirmed the arrest of five immigration officers at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport.
The five officers have been taken into police custody on suspicion of abusing the fast track system in place for foreign nationals who need additional support on arrival.
The five officers were arrested on Tuesday 14th November and the Assistant for Special Crimes at the Bali High Prosecutors Office, Deddy Koerniawan, held a press conference on Wednesday afternoon confirming the details of the case.
Koerniawan told the press “this started with complaints from the public regarding the misuse of fast-track facilities. That’s why we went down on November 14th, 2023, and checked the field.”
The fast-track service at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International is a priority service facility that allows for certain groups and specific permit holders to be processed in a dedicated lane.
This priority service is only for the immigration part of the arrivals process and is not a paid-for service. This is a service that can be used by the elderly, pregnant women, children, and certain migrant workers.
Koerniawan has reported that he and his teams identified five immigration officers who were soliciting payment from foreigners to use the priority processing service; some who were eligible for fast track and some were not.
Koerniawan explained, “Fast track services are free of charge for priorities such as the elderly and pregnant women.”
”However, foreigners who use the fast track facility are [routinely being] charged between 100-250 thousand rupiah per person.”
He continued “There was an incident of fast-track levies with a nominal value of IDR 100-200 million per month. From this security, the Prosecutor’s Office managed to secure money worth IDR 100 million [USD 6,400].“
“Of course, these profits are illegal, and could damage the image of Bandra International Ngurah Rai,” Koerniawan confirmed that an investigation is now underway.
Bali Airport has a clear zero-tolerance policy on corruption. In fact, in 2019 officials from the airport signed an agreement to declare I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport a no corruption zone.
The agreement signed by leaders declared the integrity of the no-corruption zone.
A statement on the Bali Airport website regarding the no corruption zone states “Corruption Free Area (WBK) is a title given to government agencies whose leaders and staff are committed to realizing a Corruption Free Area (WBK) through bureaucratic reform, especially in preventing corruption and improving the quality of public services through structuring governance, structuring HR management systems, strengthening supervision, and strengthening performance accountability.”
Tourists are reminded that they should not pay for priority immigration services at Bali Airport and they should report any corruption or coercion to the authorities.
The management team at Bali Airport has spoken previously about their commitment to ensure the arrivals process at Bali Airport is as quick and effective as possible.
In the coming weeks, 90 new auto-gates will be installed across the international terminal, 60 in arrivals and 30 in departures.
This new system will be in full effect come early 2024 and the gates are not replacing staffed counters.
The new auto-gates will make the arrival and departure process far quicker for tourists and hopefully reduce queuing at busy times.; reducing the pressure on fast track lanes too.
Bali lovers familiar with the arrivals process at Ngurah Rai International are already raising concerns that queues could mount up again when the Bali tourism tax is introduced on the 14th of February 2024.
However, top immigration officials have confirmed that tourists will be able to pay their IDR 150,000 tourism tax online before touching down in Bali.
If they wish to pay on arrival, the Head of the Bali Tourism Board, Tjok Bagus Pemayun, has confidently assured tourists that payment will take just 23 seconds.
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Mango Carafino
Friday 17th of November 2023
So What, let those officers go free. This is called pay to play. You want to pay a bit to move fast through the line than pay. If you do not want to then stand in the long line. Everywhere in the world there is some type of corruption. Bali has always been a paradise of easy going. Now everything is fuk'd up because all the people believe they are a god and need to regulate how things should be in Indonesia compared to their own countries.
Let us be frank, most if not all the men in Bali, who are from Russia, are here to avoid going to fight for their country, same for the Ukrainians. If we are going to begin regulating nonsense then let us begin first with those who should be returned to their countries because their countries need and demand their presence.
Next, we have to ask ourselves, if America has an open boarder and welcomes immigrants into the country with no documentation, why are we now having to give our fingerprints, facial recognition, documents, email, social media identification to move through the world?
If the Indonesia Govt. bills tourist taxes and fee's greater than found in other countries, than the Indonesia Govt should increase the salary of the workers inside the system so that they do not need to provide Pay to Play tactics.
It is all nonsense. No one is cleaner or dirtier than the next person. There is no one more upstanding or upright to claim that another person is below them.
Firechef
Saturday 18th of November 2023
@Mango Carafino, Woa, just wait a dogone minute here. The USA does NOT have an open border and people crossing the border are doing so illegally. They are being processed as Illegals and treated as illegals by the general public. Get your facts straight before encouraging Balinese to try to immigrate to the USA illegally and wind up in jail or worse yet, homeless and starving.
Shorty
Saturday 18th of November 2023
@Mango Carafino,
'..if America has an open boarder and welcomes immigrants into the country with no documentation..'
???
A USA tourist visa for an Australian costs USD185 and takes 3+ weeks to process
Exp
Friday 17th of November 2023
@Mango Carafino, Maybe there is a reason for the "long lines". So there are victims.
Firechef
Thursday 16th of November 2023
Was wondering how long it would take for some of these guys to start scamming the tourists. As with all new things, it didn't take long. At least they got caught quickly.
Exp
Thursday 16th of November 2023
Can Bali immigration now refund unsuspecting foreigners that was asked to pay these "fast track fees"?
In local news it is stated by prosecutor that this scam was ongoing for the last two months only.
Is that really the case? There are more than 20 online sites offering "fast track service" upon arrival in Bali, like "skip line with VOA, immigration and customs" for 500k or more. Are these sites legit or part of this "fast track service" these immigration officials provided?
Shorty
Friday 17th of November 2023
@Exp, Get real expat...refund the money? It would be almost impossible to identify all who have paid. Besides, they're happy they beat the queue, and would not want to be part of a criminal investigation.
Seek
Thursday 16th of November 2023
Shame from top to bottom in the hierarchy.
Wayan Bo
Thursday 16th of November 2023
Anyway under the Dutch rule this wouldn’t happen, Batavia would be today political part of EU.
Raymond
Friday 17th of November 2023
@Wayan Bo,
And you would have good medical and have a pension.