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Indonesian police on November 6 2026 named Slamet Uliandi, a senior law enforcement official who previously headed monitoring at the Criminal Investigation Agency, as the fourth suspect in the wiretapping of President Prabowo Subianto. According to a police press conference covered by Reuters, Uliandi served as monitoring chief from 2010 to 2019 and later as head of the information and technology unit from 2021 to 2026, where he allegedly approved the wiretaps and the deletion of interception records. Investigators have not detained him yet due to a health condition, the cyber crime unit director told reporters, while police continue to examine the motives behind the operation that has exposed divisions within the government.
Three other senior officers, including Prabowo’s chief of staff Listyo Sigit Prabowo, were arrested earlier in the week, the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency head Asep Safrudin stated at a news conference. Listyo Sigit Prabowo, a known loyalist to former president Joko Widodo and not related to the current leader despite sharing a similar name, served as national police chief during the period when the alleged wiretapping occurred. The other two suspects are Inspector General Ahrie Sonta Nasution, head of the National Police legal division, and Inspector General Eko Hadi Santoso, a senior instructor at the police education institute, according to details provided to Nikkei Asia and The Jakarta Post.
The suspects are accused of entering phone numbers into the police’s official electronic surveillance system without required warrants or case reports, in violation of a 2010 National Police regulation, multiple law enforcement statements confirmed. Targets extended beyond the president to include ministers, politicians, journalists, civil society leaders, NGO activists and businesspeople, with the activity spanning 2025 and 2026 before logs were allegedly deleted in October to cover tracks. A tip-off from another officer last week prompted the discovery, after which authorities seized 11 mobile phones, an iPad and four USB drives as evidence, the Criminal Investigation Agency reported.
Presidential spokesperson Prasetyo Hadi described the actions as tending toward treason that could endanger state interests and the safety of the nation’s leadership, a position echoed by intelligence chief Muhammad Herindra who told reporters the illegal act could amount to an offense against the state. The national police chief Gen. Suyudi Ario Seto insisted the probe was purely a law enforcement matter unrelated to political rivalries, according to his comments carried by The Jakarta Post. Neither the government nor investigators have publicly detailed the content of any intercepted communications or the precise motives.
The scandal has drawn attention to an apparent widening rift between President Prabowo Subianto, who took office in 2024 after winning election with backing from predecessor Joko Widodo, and Widodo himself, as noted across reports from Reuters, BBC News and The Diplomat. Prabowo selected Widodo’s son as vice president during the campaign, yet recent tensions appear to have escalated with the involvement of Widodo loyalists in the case. Political parties have begun discussing a parliamentary inquiry, while Widodo told reporters he respected the legal process, according to accounts in local outlets.
More than 6,000 security personnel were deployed in Jakarta to safeguard stability as the investigation proceeds alongside a trial involving the former president, The Diplomat reported, reflecting heightened caution amid the political strains. The case has added pressure on Prabowo’s administration, which faces growing public discontent over its costly populist policies and has seen weakening investor confidence in the country’s $1.5 trillion economy, a Reuters assessment found. Police have questioned 13 officers and five criminal and IT experts so far, with a special team formed to deepen the inquiry, the national police spokesperson said.
