Finance minister appears for questioning at KPK

Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo appeared at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) headquarters on Tuesday morning to respond to a KPK summons for questioning in relation bribery allegations implicating the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry.

Agus arrived at the KPK at around 10 a.m. but did not respond to any reporters' questions.

He was appearing for questioning as witness for an official at the manpower ministry, I Nyoman Suisnaya, who has been named a suspect in the case.

The KPK has asked Agus to clarify several points since he is also alleged to have been among the officials who approved a graft-ridden infrastructure project in Papua worth Rp 73 billion.

The program was proposed by the manpower ministry with the consent of Agus and the House of Representatives' Budgetary Committee.

This year the ministry allocated Rp 500 billion for the infrastructure development program in 19 regions across Indonesia, including in Papua.

Besides Nyoman, two other people have been named suspects in the case: Nyoman's immediate subordinate Dadong Irbarelawan, and Dharnawati who works for PT Alam Jaya Papua.

The three were arrested in late August prior to the delivery of Rp 1.5 billion in alleged bribes. The suspects have all said the money was intended for Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar through several of his special aides. These special aides are also politicians from the National Awakening Party (PKB) of which Muhaimin is the chairman.

Recently, Agus stated that he knew nothing about the graft, and that it was the manpower ministry that was supposed to monitor the program.