PPP to provide legal advocacy for former minister

The United Development Party (PPP) will provide legal advocacy for former social services minister Bachtiar Chamsyah who has been named a suspect in a graft case by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), a top party official said Tuesday.

“The PPP is shocked by [the KPK's announcement]. The party will provide legal advocacy for each of its members, especially Pak Bachtiar, who is the chairman of the [party's] advisory board,” Lukman Hakim Saifuddin Zuhri, the chairman of the PPP faction in House of Representatives, said as quoted by kompas.com.

Lukman said that the party did not believe that Bachtiar was involved in any graft case. “We will study the case and discuss it with him,” he said.

Bachtiar was named a suspect on Monday in a graft case involving the procurement of sewing machines and the import of cattle during his term. The KPK said it might announce other suspects in the case.

Bachtiar was alleged to have directly appointed certain companies in the procurement of sewing machines and the import of cattle – intended for distribution to the poor – in the government’s poverty eradication program between 2004 and 2006. He also allegedly inflated the price of the goods.