T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said on Friday that it would investigate whether House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso had embezzled state funds allocated to the Religious Affairs Ministry.

The information was revealed in the verdict of suspended Golkar Party lawmaker Zulkarnaen Djabar, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Thursday for his role in the Koran procurement scandal.

KPK commissioner Bambang Widjojanto said that the antigraft body had taken note of all the important information, including where the court claimed that Priyo, who is also a Golkar politician, received 1 percent from the Religious Affairs Ministry's laboratory procurement budget.

'The information will be clarified later with other information that has been obtained by the KPK,' he told The Jakarta Post.

The commission then would use the said information to determine whether or not to proceed with the investigation, Bambang continued to explain.

'KPK investigators will be the ones who decide whether it is necessary to develop the case or not,' he said.

KPK spokesperson Johan Budi, meanwhile, said that the information could be used as evidence to implicate Priyo. 'But we have to investigate the information [before we decide whether it can be used as evidence],' he told a press conference at the KPK's headquarters in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

In the meantime, the antigraft body could not do much with the information since the verdict was not yet legally binding as Zulkarnaen had decided to file an appeal, according to Johan.

KPK commissioner Busyro Muqoddas recently said that the commission had obtained definite evidence linking Priyo to the case, adding that it was still in the process of validating the evidence.

Responding to Zulkarnaen's verdict, Golkar deputy secretary general Nurul Arifin said the sentence was unfair.

She said the verdict was much harsher than those imposed on other graft convicts. 'There's an element of injustice in handing out the verdict compared to other graft cases that also caught the public's attention,' Nurul said.

She added the party would not kick Zulkarnaen out of Golkar since the case was still ongoing and was in the process of appeal.

'Golkar will not abandon its members who are suffering from problems. Zulkarnaen is a member of the big family that is Golkar. We have to stand by him during this tough time,' Nurul said.

Golkar secretary general Ade Komaruddin, meanwhile, said the verdict stood on weak ground because the panel of judges handed down the sentence based on the idea that Zulkarnaen had hurt the feelings of Muslims in the country given that the scandal was related to the procurement of Islam's holy book.

'We can't measure the notion that his action hurt Muslims' feelings. Everyone has different interpretations,' he said.

Ade added that Golkar would aid Zulkarnaen in appealing by providing legal assistance.

The party would also help Priyo should he need legal aid, according to Ade.

Zulkarnaen decided to appeal the case after the court handed him 15 years behind bars, the heaviest sentence ever imposed on a politician convicted of corruption.

The court also sentenced Zulkarnaen's son, Dendy Prasetya, to an eight-year prison term for aiding his father in the scandal along with another Golkar politician and graft convict Fahd El Fouz, who acted as a broker between the pair and the ministry.