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KPK grills former health minister as witness

Antigraft officials questioned former health minister Siti Fadilah Supari on Thursday as a witness in graft cases related to the 2006 procurement of health equipment for bird flu patients

Irawaty Wardany (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, November 20, 2009

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KPK grills former health minister as witness

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ntigraft officials questioned former health minister Siti Fadilah Supari on Thursday as a witness in graft cases related to the 2006 procurement of health equipment for bird flu patients.

"I was questioned as a witness in suspected corruption at the Coordinating Public Welfare Ministry in 2006," she said.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has declared the former secretary at the ministry, Soetedjo Yuwono, a suspect in the case that allegedly caused Rp 32 billion (US$3.41 million) in state losses.

Soetedjo was the coordinator of the Rp 98 billion procurement project at the ministry headed up at the time by minister Aburizal Bakrie.

"I was asked why the health equipment procurement project was handled by the Coordinating Public Welfare Ministry," Siti said.

"We faced bird flu outbreaks in 2005 and 2006; the government declared the 2005 one an extraordinary situation. That's why the Coordinating Ministry was involved in the procurement projects."

The health equipment was purchased for several reference hospitals for patients with bird flu.

In 2008, Siti flagged suspected embezzlement at state-owned health insurance company PT Askes.

She said the company's dual role in verifying charges and paying healthcare costs had created an opportunity to mark up the costs. She added the suspected embezzlement had cost the state Rp 14.54 billion.

Askes president director I Gde Subawa dismissed the allegations as baseless. The case has yet to be investigated.

The KPK is also looking into several other suspected graft cases related to the Health Ministry, including the procurement of equipment in 2003 and the acquisition of X-ray machines in 2007, which caused losses of Rp 4.8 billion.

The KPK has declared former health minister Achmad Sujudi and the ministry's suppliers - former PT Kimia Farma Trading president director Gunawan Pranoto and PT Rifa Jaya Mulia president director Rinaldi Yusuf - as suspects in the 2003 graft case. The three are accused of causing Rp 71 billion in losses in the procurement of health equipment for eastern Indonesian regions.

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