The detention of former youth and sports minister Andi Mallaranggeng paves the way for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to arrest other politicians '€” especially from the ruling Democratic Party '€” allegedly involved in the graft-riddled Hambalang sports center project, Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) said on Thursday.

ICW political corruption researcher Ade Irawan said the KPK would likely target other Democratic Party politicians after detaining Andi, the first active minister to be named a suspect in a graft case.

'€œNow the KPK is brave enough to detain a former minister from a ruling party, they should not hesitate to implicate more politicians allegedly involved in the case,'€ he told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The KPK finally fulfilled its promise to detain Andi after questioning him for six hours on Thursday.

'€œAfter questioning Andi last Friday and this Thursday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., KPK investigators concluded that it was necessary [for us] to detain him,'€ KPK spokesman Johan Budi told a press conference at the KPK'€™s headquarters in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

Johan said that Andi would be detained for the first 20 days at the KPK detention center, and that his stay could be extended to a maximum of 120 days.

While Andi is in detention, Johan said KPK investigators would complete his dossier and soon take his case to trial.

'€œAt least before his detention period is over,'€ Johan said when asked when Andi'€™s case would be brought to court.

Andi appeared to have been aware that he would be detained as when he arrived at the KPK, he was carrying luggage containing spare clothes.

On Thursday, Andi seemed resigned to the fact that he would soon be incarcerated.

'€œI accept this as a process to expedite the completion of the case. I hope that [this case] goes to court immediately so that the truth will come out,'€ Andi told reporters, donning the KPK'€™s orange detainee jacket.

Andi, however, declined to comment when asked if he would reveal the roles of other party politicians who allegedly accepted illicit funds from the Hambalang project.

Former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum is said to have accepted money from donors and used it to finance his bid for the Democratic Party leadership during the party'€™s congress in 2010

Anas, who has also been named a suspect in the case, won the contest in August 2010.

Andi was named a suspect by the KPK in late December 2012. The KPK had earlier pledged that it would detain Andi after receiving an audit report on the Hambalang project from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).

The audit determined that the Hambalang graft case resulted in state losses of Rp 463.66 billion
(US$41.73 million).

The Hambalang facility in Bogor, which has now fallen into disrepair, was designed to be a national multi-sports training center. It was initiated by Andi'€™s predecessor, Adhyaksa Dault, but the budget ballooned from Rp 300 billion to Rp 2.5 trillion under Andi.

Aside from Andi, the KPK has named two other suspects: former planning bureau chief at the Youth and Sports Ministry, Deddy Kusdinar, for his role as a planning officer in the Hambalang project, and former operations director of PT Adhi Karya, Teuku Bagus Mukhamad Noor.

Spokesman for the Mallarangeng family, Rizal Mallarangeng, maintained that the KPK had locked up the wrong man. '€œI personally think that the KPK have detained an innocent man,'€ Rizal told reporters.

Outspoken Democratic Party politician Ruhut Sitompul warned that Anas should prepare to be arrested, following Andi's detention.

'€œMy message for Anas is just do what Andi did: sit tight,'€ Ruhut said, alluding to Anas'€™ cooperation with KPK investigators.

Popular

To my horror, it’s just a movie!

RI, Australia strengthen partnership on taxing crypto assets

Pentagon chief congratulates Prabowo on being elected President