Silmy Karim
Indonesian official and former immigration director-general; dismissed and detained pending corruption investigation.
Indonesia's anti-corruption commission passed its residence-permit extortion file against former deputy immigration minister Silmy Karim and seven other suspects to prosecutors on 30 September, a day after a Jakarta court rejected his pre-trial challenge.
Last refreshed: 3 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
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Timeline for Silmy Karim
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Silmy Karim is a former Indonesian official who served as director-general of immigration from 2023 to 2024 and then as deputy minister for immigration and corrections until his dismissal on 4 June 2026.
His career ended in a corruption case built around the permit system he once ran. The KPK alleges that officials and visa agents extracted payments from foreigners seeking KITAS and KITAP residence permits, and puts the total at 145.5bn rupiah. Karim was arrested in a sting on 2 and 3 June 2026 and has been held since.
The case matters beyond one official because the alleged scheme ran through the permits that foreign residents, including holders of the E33G remote-worker visa, depend on. More than 346,000 foreign residents hold KITAS or KITAP permits. The allegations are untested in court.
Karim's case reaches prosecutors
Karim's attempt to stop the case before trial failed on 29 September, when a Jakarta court rejected his pre-trial challenge. The next day the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) handed its file to prosecutors, naming eight suspects with Karim among them. the Commission alleges that 145.5bn rupiah was extracted from foreign applicants for residence permits.
The handover moves Karim from investigation to the prosecution stage almost four months after his arrest. He has been in custody since June, when the KPK extended his pre-trial detention by 40 days on 22 June. No court has yet tried the allegations, and Karim keeps the presumption of innocence.
Karim lost his post within days
Karim was still deputy minister for immigration and corrections when KPK officers detained him on 2 and 3 June 2026, together with 16 others: eight officials and nine visa agents. Investigators say the ring collected 100m rupiah each week for speeding up foreign nationals' KITAS and KITAP applications, and his declared wealth of 234.59bn rupiah is under examination. Karim ran the immigration directorate from 2023 to 2024, the period investigators say the scheme operated.
President Prabowo Subianto dismissed him on 4 June, days after the arrest, and named no successor at the time.
Reference
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Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 3 October 2026. Editorial standards.