SBY warns ministers on graft as KPK pounds sports ministry

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President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told members of his Cabinet to crack down on graft in their respective ministries on Thursday, as the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) stepped up its prosecution on the Hambalang graft case involving the Youth and Sports Minister.

Yudhoyono told his ministers not to ignore any form of budget misuse in their institutions amid the growing number of corruption cases involving state officials and politicians.

“If you are aware that your subordinates have misappropriated or misused the state budget in connivance with politician culprits but do nothing to stop or prevent it, you must share the guilt,” he said at a Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Office.

“Such actions are conspiracy. I have credible information but I want to leave it for the law enforcement bodies, especially the KPK to handle” Yudhoyono added.

Yudhoyono said that “I am serious. I know many things although only a little has been said. I am tight-lipped to avoid unnecessary political effects. I know that some House members attempted to conspire with state officials to fiddle with the state budget,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has named a senior Youth and Sports Ministry official as its first suspect in the graft case surrounding the construction of the Hambalang sports complex in Bogor, West Java.

The suspect was identified as DK, who is understood to be Dedi Kusdinar, the ministry’s financial and internal affairs bureau chief, tasked with the oversight of the ministry’s money and the integrity of its employees.

DK led the ministry’s financial planning department at the time of the corruption allegations, investigators said.

“He [DK] is alleged to have misused his authority as a public official in connection with the procurement process in the construction project of the Hambalang sports center,” KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto said at a press briefing on Thursday.

The announcement followed the revelation that KPK investigators had raided seven locations looking for important evidence in the case earlier in the day.

The locations raided include the offices of the Youth and Sports Ministry’s planning division in Central Jakarta and Cibubur, construction firms PT Adhi Karya and PT Wijaya Karya and the East Jakarta Public Works Agency.

Last week, the KPK upgraded the status of the Hambalang probe from an inquiry into a full-fledged investigation after investigators said they had found enough evidence to prove that graft took place during the construction project.

“The raids were aimed at finding more evidence. The process has been going well and we hope that we can make some interesting findings from the raids,” Bambang said.

The KPK also asked the immigration office to impose bans on overseas travel for three witnesses in the case: AS, the director of a company identified by the initials CCM; YW, director of YK; and LL, director of RM.

Meanwhile, Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng said the ministry was ready to help with the investigation and pledged to assist the KPK in additional raids.

“I really have no idea which rooms have been raided by the KPK’s investigators, but we will open every door in every office to the commission to find any documents that they need. We will fully cooperate and support the process,” Andi announced at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Thursday.