Industry minister quizzed in Rp 13 billion markup case

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 04/16/2008 12:31 PM | Headlines

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) questioned Industry Minister Fahmi Idris as a witness Tuesday in a case that cost the state some Rp 13 billion (about US$1.37 million) in losses.

The graft case is in connection with a markup of purchased labor training equipment by the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry that Fahmi once headed.

Fahmi was questioned for 90 minutes and left the KPK's building at around 1 p.m. Upon his departure, Fahmi said investigators had asked him eight questions.

"I was questioned about the issuance of a letter officially appointing five companies to provide all labor training equipment," he told journalists.

He said the manpower ministry had decided to appoint the companies due to time and budget constraints.

"The ministry handed over the responsibility to Tazwin Zein to carry out the project," he said.

Fahmi blamed Tazwin, the treasurer at the ministry's directorate general and the project's chief, for the corruption case.

The anti-graft body named Tazwin as a suspect in the case in March 2008. He is currently being held at the Jakarta Police detention center.

The markup occurred in 2004 when the ministry allocated Rp 50 billion (US$5.4 million) to purchase and maintain the labor equipment in training centers across the country.

The graft case occurred when Jacob Nuwawea of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) served as the manpower minister, from 2001 to 2004. He was replaced by Fahmi, who held the post during the 2004-2006 period.

Fahmi, who is also a senior politician with the Golkar Party, is now the industry minister following a Cabinet shakeup by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The KPK charged Tazwin with manipulating the budget for his own benefit, causing the state to lose Rp 13 billion.

Tazwin was believed to have been responsible for appointing the five companies as sole providers.

The equipment was distributed to 19 labor training centers across the country, including seven in Jakarta.

The KPK could charge Tazwin under several articles in the 1999 law on corruption, which carries a sentence of four years to life in prison and a Rp 200 million to Rp 1 billion fine.

Also on Tuesday, the KPK questioned businesswoman Artalyta Suryani again as a suspect in a recent bribery case involving senior state prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan.

She declined to speak to journalists upon her arrival at the KPK building around 10 a.m.

Artalyta is accused of bribing Urip who led a team of prosecutors handling the graft cases of two tycoons, Sjamsul Nursalim and Anthony Salim.

Both Urip and Artalyta were caught exchanging US$660,000 on March 2, two days after the Attorney General's Office dropped the Nursalim and Salim cases relating to embezzled Bank Indonesia liquidity assistance funds.

Artalyta has been linked to the two tycoons, a claim she has denied. (ewd)

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