TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Minister, blog add noise to bribery case
An influx of statements, ranging from those extracted by the anticorruption agency to those revealed on a blog, have added more noise to an investigation into alleged corruption in the construction of an SEA Games athletes’ dormitory in South Sumatra
Change Size
A
n influx of statements, ranging from those extracted by the anticorruption agency to those revealed on a blog, have added more noise to an investigation into alleged corruption in the construction of an SEA Games athletes’ dormitory in South Sumatra.
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) questioned Youth and Sports Affairs Minister Andi Mallarangeng on Tuesday regarding a case in which his office’s secretary allegedly received bribes from a company to illegally win the bid for the project.
Andi Mallarangeng: JP/Wendra Ajistyatama
The construction project tender for the dormitory, which is to be used for the SEA Games this October, is worth an estimated Rp 191.1 billion (US$22.3 million).
Andi arrived at the KPK office at around 10 a.m. after a summons to testify and emerged nearly three hours later.
He told journalists that the questions revolved around his responsibility as the minister, especially in the dormitory construction project.
The questioning revealed at least one fact: The so-called “tactical fund” term used by secretary Wafid Muharram as his alibi was, according to Andi, unrecognized or at least unreported.
The KPK, so far, has arrested secretary-general Wafid Muharram, businesswoman and alleged go-between Mindo Rosalina Manulang, and Muhammad El Idris, the marketing director for the company that won the project bid, PT Duta Graha Indah (PT DGI). The arrests were made on April 21, hours after DGI marketing director El Idris gave a check worth Rp 3.2 billion to Wafid.
Although the check was suspected to be a bribe, Wafid claimed it was a form of “tactical funds” from private businesses to support the ministry’s operational activities.
“I have never been told [of the funds], and it is not a ministerial policy,” Andi said.
KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said that Paul Iwo, another businessman often mentioned in relation to the case and the “tactical funds”, was also questioned on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a blog post by former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin, who according to a retracted testimony by Rosalina received 13 percent of the total value of the project, immediately became an online sensation after its first posting on Monday.
The blog, accessible at http://nazaruddin78.blogspot.com, addresses Nazaruddin’s claims of innocence on various cases. It has been viewed over 12,012 times, with the one and only posting sparking 201 comments as of 8 p.m. Tuesday night.
According to Rosalina’s initial testimony, the legislator allegedly ordered her to solicit a bribe from DGI. However, she later retracted her claim, saying she was forced by her lawyer, Kamaruddin Simanjuntak, to implicate Nazaruddin.
“As I have said before, the law can prove whether I am part [of the case]. Isn’t the Youth and Sports Affairs Ministry [an institution that] the KPK can investigate for who the players and the bribers are? Let the legal arena prove [it],” the entry said.
Nazaruddin fled to Singapore last Monday, one day before the KPK issued a request to impose a travel ban on him.
During an interview with a private TV station on Monday, he said he would return to clarify his role in a number of cases.
Nazaruddin has also been suspected of attempting to bribe the Constitutional Court secretary-general, Djanedri M. Gaffar.
