Arghea Desafti Hapsari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 08/06/2010 8:53 AM
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Thursday took into custody three former high-ranking officials for alleged involvement in three separate graft cases.
KPK spokesman Johan Budi said the commission had detained former social services minister Bachtiar Chamsyah, who was previously named a suspect in a graft case involving the procurement of sarongs during his term.
“We sent [Bachtiar] to the Cipinang detention center in East Jakarta for 20 days,” Johan added. Bachtiar faced KPK questioning on Thursday afternoon.
Named a suspect in March, Bachtiar has denied the charges levelled against him, saying the sarong purchases, made in 2006 and 2008, were funded by public donations, adding that he could account for all of the spent funds.
“It was not the state’s money. I am not a thief,” he said.
The KPK also named him a suspect in another case of graft centering on the ministry’s procurement of sewing machines and the import of cattle.
He allegedly inflated the price of goods purchased through the procurement of sewing machines and cattle — intended to be distributed to poor people — in the government’s poverty eradication program between 2004 and 2006.
The KPK also accused Bachtiar of favoritism, alleging he appointed certain companies for the procurement projects. According to a 2003 presidential decree on procurement, direct appointment is only permissible for government projects worth less than Rp 50 million (US$5,600).
The sewing machine procurement project was valued at an estimated Rp 54 billion while the cattle procurement was worth Rp 5 billion.
A 2005 report by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) first alerted authorities to suspicious inconsistencies in the procurement projects. The KPK began investigating the case in 2007 and found evidence to build their case last year.
On Thursday, the KPK also detained a former Indonesian ambassador to the US, Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat, who they have named a suspect in a corruption case related to the renovation of the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore in 2003.
Sudjadnan, who was at that time the secretary-general at the Foreign Ministry, allegedly embezzled up to $175,000 from a budget allocated for the renovation of the embassy’s residential compound. The project’s value has been estimated to have cost up to Rp 16.4 billion.
The case also implicates former Indonesian ambassador to Singapore Mochamad Slamet Hidayat, who was charged with corruption in August 2008.
The KPK has also taken into custody a former top Health Ministry official as a suspect in a graft case dating back to 2007 that centers on the procurement of medical equipment for areas in eastern Indonesia.
Johan said the suspect, identified only by the initials SA, held a post at the ministry during the time the alleged corruption took place.
“[We] believe the suspect received around Rp 750 million from a ministry partner [in the projects],” he added.
SA is charged with violating articles of the 1999 Corruption Law and faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.
In early 2009, the KPK searched the office of the Health Ministry’s secretary general to gather evidence relating to the case.
The case centers on the provision of portable X-ray machines for hospitals in remote and underdeveloped areas in 2007. The KPK estimates that losses to the state in this particular case could be as much as Rp 9.4 billion. The projects were worth around Rp 15.7 billion.
On Thursday, the KPK also expected to question former minister Siti Fadilah Supari as a witness in the case, but she failed to attend the questioning. Johan said the commission had postponed the session.
Earlier, critics aired their disappointment toward the KPK’s progress, calling the commission slow, especially in dealing with politically charged cases such as the Bank Century bailout.
