T

he House of Representatives’ budget committee is said to have accepted Rp 20 billion in a bribery case related to the funding scheme for regional infrastructure development (DPPID).

The information was revealed on Thursday during the trial of Manpower and Transmigration Ministry official I Nyoman Suisnaya for his alleged involvement in a Rp 1.5 billion bribery case.

Nyoman claimed innocence in the bribery case centering on an infrastructure project in four resettlements in Papua, which used the same funding scheme.

He asserted that from the beginning, there were players from both outside and inside the ministry who had carried forward the program dishonestly.

Nyoman said his superior Jamaluddin Malik and fellow official Dadong Irbarelawan, also a defendant in the case, knew more of the deal.

He also pointed a finger at his boss Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar’s special aide Sindu Malik Pribadi, who was also a former official for the tax directorate at the Finance Ministry, and in addition National Awakening Party (PKB) politicians M. Fauzi, Iskandar “Acos” Pasojo and Ali Mudhori.

“Many times they convinced me that the fee was needed,” he said before the Jakarta Corruption Court, referring to the fees being paid just before deliberation over the DPPID scheme by the government, the Finance Ministry and the House’s budget committee.

“The amount of the budget approved depended on the down payment [fee],” he said, adding that the fee would have eventually been paid to the House’s budget committee.

“Sindu told Fauzi on Aug. 23, 2011 that Rp 20 billion had been collected and deposited to the budget committee through Acos [Rp 19 billion] and Ali [Rp 1 billion],” he said, adding that the money was from “the regions”. He did not elaborate further on which regions.

The DPPID scheme has allegedly been abused by politicians to coax businesspeople into paying bribes in return for project contracts.

With the consent of the budgetary committee, the Finance Ministry has allocated a total of Rp 6.13 trillion from the 2011 revised state budget for the DPPID in three allotments: Rp 500 billion to build infrastructure in transmigration areas, Rp 613 billion to build infrastructure for educational purposes and Rp 5.2 trillion for supplementary infrastructure, including for environment, water and sanitation.

Prosecutors from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) previously demanded the court sentence Nyoman to four years and six months in prison for accepting Rp 1.5 billion as a gratuity, which was to be given to Muhaimin.

The bribery case made headlines after Nyoman and Dadong were caught for allegedly accepting the Rp 1.5 billion bribe from businesswoman Dharnawati of PT Alam Jaya Papua on Aug. 25 last year.

It was said that the cash was part of a Rp 2 billion to be paid by Dharnawati to ensure the endorsement of her company to participate in the infrastructure project in Papua soon after the DPPID funds were transferred.

Dharnawati had yet to supply the remaining Rp 500 million.

The bribes were expected to total Rp 7.3 billion, or 10 percent of the project cost.

Also on Thursday, two budget committee leaders Olly Dondokambey and Tamsil Linrung were questioned by the KPK for another bribery case that also related to mismanagement of the same fund.

Both leaders, who were interrogated as witnesses for suspect lawmaker and former committee member Wa Ode Nurhayati, denied any committee involvement in abusing the fund.