Abuse of Authority by Law Enforcement Officials in Government Procurement: A Criminal Law Analysis of Corruption Cases in Indonesia

Abstrak

Corruption in government procurement of goods and services remains a major threat to state finances and public trust, as it involves complex interactions among administrative officials, private actors, and law enforcement agencies. This study aims to provide a doctrinal legal analysis of abuse of authority by law enforcement officials in public procurement and to develop an adequate framework of criminal liability under Indonesian positive law. The research employs a doctrinal method with statute, conceptual, and case approaches, focusing on relevant norms in the Anti‑Corruption Law, the new Criminal Code, procurement regulations, and selected court decisions. The findings show, first, that the normative configuration of abuse of authority places Article 3 of the Anti‑Corruption Law at the core for prosecuting officials including law‑enforcement officers whose conduct deviates from the purpose of their office across procurement stages. Second, the patterns and modus operandi of law‑enforcement abuse of authority appear in budget and planning interventions, manipulation of tender outcomes, weakened oversight, and case‑fixing practices, generating structural impunity that conventional oversight mechanisms struggle to address. Third, an effective criminal‑liability framework must combine strict application of Article 3, sentencing guidelines, and the emerging regime of corporate criminal liability to simultaneously target public officials, law‑enforcement personnel, and corporations that benefit from corrupt procurement schemes. These results strengthen the normative and penal‑policy basis for designing more incisive and multi‑layered anti‑corruption strategies in the public procurement sector.