KPK grills former health minister, again
The Jakarta Post | Wed, 02/08/2012 9:54 AM
JAKARTA: Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators again grilled former health minister Siti Fadillah Supari on Tuesday over an allegation of corruption against the former director general of medical services, Ratna Dewi Umar.
Ratna has been named a suspect over 2007’s botched procurement of medical equipment for the ministry’s crisis center, worth Rp 40 billion. The incident cost the state Rp 6.8 billion.
Siti said that she had no knowledge of foul play in the project and could not monitor the “thousands of procurement projects” in the ministry.
She also said that she answered questions from KPK investigators in seven different graft cases.
A document from the ministry leaked by the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) allegedly shows that Siti acknowledged that there was a suspect procurement project in 2006.
Siti has previously said that she knew nothing about the alleged price-fixing of medical equipment or the alleged procurement mark-up.
The document allegedly said that Siti signed off on the procurement of medical equipment to handle a bird flu epidemic on June 12, 2006.
The document also said that Siti allegedly approved Ratna’s recommendation for direct appointment, basing her decision on a 2003 presidential decree on procurement.
