Indonesia will tighten controls on state surveillance equipment and consider sweeping its presidential palace for bugging devices, a senior minister said on Monday, after illegal wiretaps on President Prabowo Subianto, senior officials and other figures were uncovered last week.

Senior minister for legal affairs Yusril Ihza Mahendra said the government was also taking steps to make sure wiretapping equipment held by state agencies is not misused in future. Asked whether the palace would be swept for covert listening devices, he said it was something the government would consider as an anticipation measure.

Four officers arrested as parliament demands answers

The scandal led to the arrest of four senior police officers accused of unauthorised monitoring of phones, among them former national police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo, who had recently been appointed the president's chief of staff and was sacked last week following his arrest. The government has said the case points to treason, and an investigation is under way, though no formal charges have been announced. Those monitored included business people, journalists, activists and political figures, whose identities have not been disclosed, and the full extent of the operation is still unclear. Authorities say the wiretapping began after Prabowo took office in late 2024.

Parliament is pressing for a full accounting. House Commission III chairman Habiburokhman said on Monday that a powerful figure may be behind the surveillance and that the case should be charged under treason and state-security provisions, not only under electronic-information law. The four suspects named by police are Listyo, National Police legal division chief Ahrie Sonta, Eko Hadi Santoso and Slamet Uliandi. Prabowo met 10 former police chiefs on Sunday, with the scandal among the matters discussed, and Yusril said the investigation began after the national police received a tip that its new chief investigated and reported to the president.