Prabowo Wiretap Case: Ex-Police Chief Listyo Sigit Among Three Suspects Accused of Tapping the President Through Polri's Interception System

Indonesia's police have named their own former chief, Listyo Sigit Prabowo, and two senior officers as suspects in the illegal tapping of President Prabowo Subianto's phone number. The head of the Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim), Commissioner General Asep Safrudin, told a press conference on 3 November that the president's number and those of state officials, politicians, media, mass-organisation figures, NGOs and businesspeople were tapped between 2025 and 2026. Police haven't said how many numbers were involved.

Listyo was still serving as police chief during that period; on 1 October he was replaced and appointed presidential chief of staff. Police gave only initials. CNN Indonesia names the others as Insp. Gen. Ahrie Sonta Nasution, head of the police legal division, and Insp. Gen. Eko Hadi Santoso, a senior instructor at the police staff college.

Listyo hasn't commented publicly.

How the tapping worked

The numbers were entered into the Lawful Interception Management System (LIMS) without verification, Antara reports, with no investigation behind them. The suspects then ordered the intercepted files deleted from a LIMS computer, Bareskrim says. Antara dates that to around October 2026, while the Jakarta Globe has the deletion order in September 2026. An officer who knew about it filed a police report on 30 October.

Police haven't mentioned spyware. Tapping done on the network side doesn't always need a spy app installed on the target's phone, Detik's explainer on LIMS notes, because the interception happens in the telecoms infrastructure.

Charges

Investigators seized 11 phones, an iPad and four flash drives and questioned 10 witnesses and three experts. The three are held at the Bareskrim detention centre in Jakarta and face Article 258 of the new criminal code, which carries up to 10 years for illegal interception. The Jakarta Globe lists the other two counts: accessing others' devices without permission, up to six years, and destroying or hiding electronic information under the ITE Law, up to eight.

The government's response

State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi said the president was "sangat, sangat prihatin" (very, very concerned) and had learned of the case when the current police chief, Suyudi Ario Seto, reported it to him. Prasetyo said the acts endangered the safety of the head of state. Coordinating Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra said no treason articles are being used.

Yusril has also announced a review of tapping powers at the police, the KPK anti-graft agency, the Attorney General's Office and the narcotics agency, working with BSSN, the national cyber agency.