Hambalang scandal suspect explains bosses’ roles

Deddy Kusdinar, the first suspect in the Youth and Sports Ministry’s graft-ridden Hambalang sports complex project, spoke of his bosses’ alleged roles in the project on Monday.

“I am only a middle-level executive with limited authority, so it was impossible for me to change the site plan [of the project] arbitrarily. It was my bosses,” he told reporters upon his arrival at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for a questioning session on Monday.

Deddy, a chief of the financial and internal affairs bureau at the ministry, said he had reported directly to the ministry secretary Wafid Muharam regarding the project. Wafid passed on the report to Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng.

Last year the KPK has opened the investigation of the Rp 1,17 trillion (US$265 million) Hambalang sport complex located in Bogor, West Java, after disgraced former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin made an accusation that there was graft in the project.

The commission then found irregularities, especially when the project was handed over from former minister Adhyaksa Dault to Andi in 2009.

After Andi took over, the project’s site plan was changed and the budget swelled from only Rp 125 billion to Rp 1.17 trillion.

Andi has insisted on proceeding with the project, although during Adhyaksa’s tenure geologists warned that the 38-hectare plot in Hambalang was “unsuitable” for a large development. (iwa)