Two officials suspended for alleged bribery links

Andra Wisnu and Andreas D. Arditya ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 07/05/2008 12:20 PM  |  Headlines

Two officials at the Transportation Ministry were suspended Friday for their alleged involvement in a bribery case related to the procurement of patrol boats.

The officials, who were put under non-active status "indefinitely", were TP Malau, who was in charge of transaction documents for the patrol boat deal, and Didik Suhartono, head of the committee in charge of a tender for the project.

The ministry's director general for sea transportation, Effendi Batubara, said the suspensions were aimed at assisting the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in investigating the case.

On Monday the KPK arrested legislator Bulyan Royan of the Reform Star Party on bribery charges. He had with him US$66,000 (Rp 608.1 million) and 5,500 euros, which were received from businessmen for allegedly granting them the patrol boat deal.

A day later, the anti-graft body caught Dedi Suwarsono, one of the businessmen in question.

Neither Malau nor Didik have been arrested or summoned by the KPK despite being made non-active from their posts.

"TP Malau's work will be taken over by the infrastructure chief in the ministry's coast guard services, and we'll have another official take over Didik's responsibilities soon," Effendy was quoted by Antara as saying.

Effendy said he had suggested Transportation Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal also suspend Capt. Djoni Algamar, the official in charge of the budget committee.

Dedi's lawyer, Kamaruddin Simanjuntak, separately said two other Transportation Ministry officials with the initials DA and TPM were also involved in facilitating a meeting between Bulyan and the businessmen.

Kamaruddin claimed that Bulyan, who was a member of the House of Representatives' Commission V for transportation and infrastructure, had asked each of the businessmen, including his client, to pay several other lawmakers and the ministry 8 percent of the total price of the project in order to win the deal.

Dedi denied the money he gave to Bulyan was a bribe.

"I was invited to join the tender, but I was told to pay the fee. I agreed because after I calculated the loss, I could still profit from the project," he said Friday.

Bulyan is the fifth active legislator currently in detention for graft charges this year.

The House has been further criticized after its Commission III for legal affairs held a closed-door meeting with the KPK on Thursday, fueling suspicions that the legislature attempted to intervene in the graft body's work to protect more lawmakers from being caught.

Indonesia Corruption Watch Coordinator Teten Masduki said Friday the House and the KPK should not have closed the meeting to the public.

"There is no way for us to know whether the House did not try to intervene in the KPK's work. If it's because they're trying to protect sensitive information, such as evidence, then the House should not be allowed to see this evidence either," he told a discussion.

Arif Nur Alim of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency said the House's disciplinary council should be given expanded rights to process and punish corrupt legislators.

"So far, sanctions from the council have only been administrative ones. It should hand out harsher punishments to make it really effective," Arif said at the same discussion.

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