WEARING shirts and ties almost a dozen “cheeky and insolent” Bali police officers involved in the extortion of a group of Australian tourists were forced to stand under the hot sun for two hours on the parade ground as punishment for their crimes.

Using a word which translates as sun-dried to explain the punishment, police commanders said the officers involved in the extortion were paraded and made to stand in the sun because they were “jerks” and needed to be humiliated for their actions.

The punishment was carried out earlier this week in front of hundreds of their police colleagues.

They have admitted the extortion of the Australians but deny the amount was $A25,000.

“They are cheeky, insolent, brash,” Bali’s deputy police chief Nyoman Suryasta said of the officers involved in the controversy.

“It is a punishment from the boss. Could be sun-drying (being made to stand in the sun) or other punishment. If they are cheeky they will be dried.” Mr Suryasta said.

He said the punishment, conducted at Bali’s police headquarters in Denpasar, was an “early punishment” for their corruption and that the officers involved would all face police ethical tribunals.

A group of Australian tourists from Melbourne on a Buck’s party trip to Bali, claimed that in February they were threatened with charges of indecency if they didn’t pay $25,000 in bribes after a stripper was found at their bucks celebration in a private room at an upscale restaurant.

It was claimed a violent fight broke out and there were tasers used when police turned up.

Mr Suryasta said the Kuta crime section head, Dewa Tagel Wijasa, accused of playing a major role in the extortion, had been suspended from his position temporarily, pending a decision of the police ethical tribunal which will hear the cases.

He said that an ongoing police investigation had found that Wijasa had played a major role in the offence.

“He controlled it directly so we are taking early steps by conducting the move,” Mr Suryasta said.

He said that not all the police involved in the case had admitted receiving money from the Australians. Some, like the intelligence officers involved in the case, were found guilty because they had failed to report the case.

“Although they did not receive the money they were guilty because they did not report the case,” Mr Suryasta said.

He said that under questioning some police had admitted receiving money from the Australians however it was not the $A25,000 as alleged.

“Not that much. But the point is not about the amount of money. But their act has defamed Bali’s police image, especially the Balinese people,” Mr Suryasta said.

The Australians claimed they were taken to ATMs and forced to withdraw the money to pay the bribe or face 10-year prison terms for indecency charges.