T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Tuesday searched the offices and houses of two regional administration heads in South Sumatra province as part of its investigation into a series of bribery allegations leveled against former Constitutional Court chief justice Akil Mochtar.

KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said investigators raided the office of Palembang Mayor Romi Herton on Jl. Merdeka and his house on Jl. Wiro Santiko in Ilir Barat.

Speaking to local journalists, Romi said the KPK confiscated four cell phones, financial transaction receipts and documents related to the Constitutional Court'€™s ruling on the Palembang election lawsuit.

On the same day, the KPK also searched the office and house of Empat Lawang Regent Budi Antoni Aljufri, Johan said.

'€œWe suspected that [the bribe for Akil] had something to do with the local elections there,'€ he said.

Akil is believed to have received billions of rupiah from local politicians involved in election disputes adjudicated by the Constitutional Court, which was led by Akil before his arrest last month.

The disgraced former justice was initially charged with accepting bribes in connection disputes in the Lebak election in Banten and the Gunung Mas election in Central Kalimantan. The KPK later added new charges, saying that he might have received gratuities in connection to election disputes in other regions.

The Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) revealed recently that it discovered wire transfers, allegedly sent by a number of regional heads as kickbacks, to several companies linked to the former Golkar politician, who has been charged under the 2001 Corruption Law and the 2010 Money Laundering Law.

'€œWe suspect that Akil accepted bribes from a number of prospective regional heads, but I don'€™t know the details of the transactions,'€ PPATK deputy chairman Agus Santoso said on Monday.

While Agus refused to name the regional heads, he confirmed that they were from areas outside of Java. '€œWe found suspicious transactions totaling Rp 100 billion [US$9 million],'€ Agus confirmed.

Both Romi and Budi found themselves dealing with Akil as he was the head of the panel of justices handling the lawsuits regarding the Palembang and Empat Lawang regional election disputes.

Earlier this year, the court ruled in favor of both Romi and Budi. Romi initially lost to the hopeful pair of Sarimuda and Nelly Rosdiana by a slim margin of eight votes.

Romi then filed a lawsuit to the court, which demanded a vote recount, resulting in Romi winning by a margin of 23 votes.

Budi also filed a lawsuit after losing the Empat Lawang election to the pair of Joncik Muhammad and Ali Halimi by 552 votes. After recapitulation, Budi was declared the winner of the election by a margin of 976 votes.

In response to rumors that a businessman identified as Muhtar Effendy had tipped off the KPK about the graft practices in the regional election disputes, Johan declined to comment.

Previously, Sarimuda claimed that he was asked by Muhtar, allegedly acting as a broker for Akil, to pay Rp 15 billion to the court if he wanted to win the legal battle. Sarimuda, however, refused to do so.

Besides Sarimuda, Banyuasin regency election hopeful Hazuar Bidul also claimed that Muhtar had offered him the opportunity to pay Rp 20 billion in return for the court ruling to disqualify his rival Yan Anton Ferdian from the election.

In another development, KPK commissioner Bambang Widjojanto said the antigraft body had also found that Akil was involved in graft practices during his tenure as a lawmaker from the Golkar Party from 1999 until 2009, before he secured a seat as a judge for the Constitutional Court in 2009.

The KPK was now investigating the possibility that Akil had laundered his ill-gotten assets before 2010, Bambang added.