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personal assistant to Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik has been slapped with a travel ban in relation to the bribery case implicating former Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas) head Rudi Rubiandini.

'€œHe is banned [from traveling abroad] for the next six months due to the [ongoing] investigation into the allegations of bribery implicating Rudi Rubiandini and others,'€ said Deputy Law and Human Rights Minister Denny Indrayana on Friday.

It is unclear why the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which is handling the investigation, requested the travel ban against Jero'€™s aide, identified as I Gusti Putu Ade Pranjaya. Other than Pranjaya, Denny said the commission had also imposed travel bans on a consultant identified as Eka Putra, Indonesian Mining Society (MPI) chairman Herman Afif Kusumo and PT Rajawali Swiber Cakrawala president director Deni Karmaina, all in connection with the case.

The KPK'€™s move may fuel speculation that it is closing in on Jero, who is implicated in the SKKMigas case. Rudi was Jero'€™s deputy before being assigned by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to lead the special task force, which comes under the auspices of Jero'€™s ministry.  

Rudi was apprehended accepting US$700,000 from Simon Gunawan Tanjaya, an executive with Singapore-based oil trading firm Kernel Oil, via his golf instructor, Deviardi aka Ardi, in a sting operation.

Jero was dragged into the case when the KPK found $200,000 in the office of Waryono Karno, the ministry'€™s secretary-general, during a raid the day after Rudi'€™s arrest.It has been alleged that the money was related to Rudi'€™s case.

In September, the antigraft body was forced to deny claims that Jero had been named a suspect in the case, after a photograph of a purportedly classified KPK document showed that he would be charged pending the approval of the President.

Jero was quick to deny the allegations leveled against him, saying that the money found in Waryono'€™s office was intended for operational purposes.

The KPK later said it was unlikely the money was related to the Kernel Oil bribery case, but added that
it may have been a bribe from another party.

The commission had hinted that it would question Jero after summoning Waryono.  Waryono, who is also prohibited from traveling overseas, was questioned by the KPK earlier this month. However, he declined to comment on the money found in his office.

Also on Friday, acting SKKMigas head Johannes Widjonarko was questioned by the KPK. Speaking after the session, Johannes said he had given information to the KPK concerning the allegation that he had delivered money of a dubious nature to Rudi. '€œEverything was explained to the investigators [during my questioning session],'€ Johannes said.

 According to a classified document obtained by The Jakarta Post, Rudi'€™s golf coach, Deviardi, who allegedly served as his go-between, told KPK investigators that Rudi had asked him to collect a sum of money from Johannes at his office in February this year.

JOhannes then proceeded to introduce Deviardi to an unidentified Chinese-Indonesian man, who said the '€œpackage'€ would be delivered via Deviardi.

According to the document, Deviardi then met the man again at a restaurant where the latter gave him a brown envelope.

Later that night, Deviardi delivered the envelope, which turned out to contain six smaller white envelopes, to Rudi, who allegedly proceeded to take out one of the envelopes to count the money inside. According to Deviardi, Rudi said the envelope contained $10,000.

Rudi then allegedly instructed Deviardi to deposit the $10,000 in a deposit box at Bank CIMB Niaga. The identity of the man that Johannes introduced to Deviardi, however, remains in question. Johannes declined to comment when asked whether the allegations were true or not.