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span class="inline inline-left">Clean claim: House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Anis Matta speaks to reporters before questioning at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in Jakarta on Thursday. The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician claimed his innocence in the alleged misappropriation of Regional Infrastructure Development Acceleration (PPID) funds. JP/Ricky YudhistiraThe Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) will likely have problems touting its image as a clean political party with two of its politicians being questioned by the authorities on allegations of graft.

PKS politician Rama Pratama, a former student activist who joined the anti-government protests that helped to overthrow Soeharto in 1998, underwent questioning on Thursday for his alleged ties with Tax Office employee Dhana Widyatmika, who has been named a suspect in a graft case.

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) investigators discovered that Rp 170 million went from Dhana’s bank account to Rama’s on three separate occasions.

Rama allegedly sent back Rp 91 million to one of Dhana’s bank accounts. The former PKS lawmaker refused to give details on his questioning session on Thursday.

Investigators in the case decided not to detain Rama as they are still investigating whether he, through his investment company PT Sangha Poros Capital, was involved in Dhana’s money laundering practice.

This is not the first time Rama faced questioning for graft allegations by investigators from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), having been separately examined in connection to the bribery scandal involving members of the House of Representatives’ budgetary committee and the Transportation Ministry.

As member of the budgetary committee, Rama was believed to have made a decision to increase the stimulus fund for infrastructure projects, part of an effort to stave off the global financial meltdown.

No charges were brought against Rama, but his colleague from the National Mandate Party (PAN) Abdul Hadi Djamal was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison.

Another high-profile PKS politician, Anis Matta, underwent questioning on Thursday for separate graft allegations.

KPK investigators questioned him about his alleged role in the bribery case surrounding the deliberations over the 2011 Regional Infrastructure Adjustment Fund (DPID), a case in which Wa Ode Nurhayati is already a suspect.

Anis is a deputy House speaker who oversees the budgetary committee, while Nurhayati was a committee member from the PAN faction when the alleged bribery took place in 2010.

Nurhayati recently accused Anis, along with four committee leaders, of interfering with the criteria used to determine whether a region would be entitled to receive funds under the DPID program. Anas has denied the accusation, and maintained his claims of innocence.

“As a deputy speaker for finance and economic affairs, my only job was to relay a statement from leaders of the budgetary committee to the Finance Minister [Agus Martowardoyo],” said Anis, referring to a letter he wrote dated Dec. 27, 2010 that stated the committee leadership had agreed on a new set of criteria.

“So, it was not my authority. It was theirs,” said Anis.

Agus gave his approval of the letter, believing that the new criteria was the collective decision of the budgetary committee’s leadership.

The finance minister wrote back to the committee, seeking clarification on the new criteria, after the committee concluded its deliberations on the fund in October 2010. Apparently, Agus discovered that some regions deemed eligible for the fund had been crossed out.

Nurhayati laid the blame on Anis, saying that Anis violated budgetary procedures by writing a letter claiming that the committee leadership had agreed on a new set of criteria.

Like Rama, Anis has faced accusations of corruption in the past. In 2011, former PKS legislator Yusuf Supendi filed a report with the KPK alleging Anis embezzled Rp 10 billion in campaign funds.

Uchok Sky Khadafi from the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA) said that PKS, which was initially known for its clean image, had turned into just another political party that went after “money from the state budget”.

“As long as our political system still provides room for corruption, there is no such thing as a clean political party,” Uchok told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Apung Widadi blamed high political costs for turning politicians into corruptors. “Such a system will eventually kills any idealism left.

“The system cannot guarantee that an idealist party like PKS can stay clean for long,” he said. (fzm)