T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has slapped travel bans on five people in connection to the corruption case surrounding the Rp 6 trillion (US$518 million) national electronic identity (e-ID) project at the Home Ministry.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi said on Friday that the five included Sugiharto, who has already been named a suspect in the case.

The other four on the list are Irman, a Home Ministry official, Isnu Edhi Wijaya, former director of state-owned Perum Percetakan Negara; Anang Sugiana Sudihardjo, director of PT Quadra Solution; and Andi Agustinus, a businessman.

Sugiharto, director of citizen administration information management at the ministry, is accused of having been involved in the marking-up of the project'€™s budget.

Irman is the ministry'€™s director general for civil and citizenship administration, Sugiharto'€™s superior.

'€œWe already asked the Directorate General of Immigration to ban them from traveling overseas,'€ Johan said on Friday.

The Directorate General confirmed the request the same day by issuing a statement that the listed people had been banned from traveling overseas for six months starting April 24 in relation to the KPK'€™s investigation into alleged corruption surrounding the e-ID program.

Also on Friday, the KPK questioned eight witnesses in relation to the case.

Priharsa Nugraha, another KPK spokesman, said that out of eight people listed, two had been identified as ministry officials, while two others were from an unknown state institution.

Two employees of two private companies and an employee of a state company were also on the list of witnesses. One of the employees of a private company is Willy Nusantara Najoan, the finance director of PT Quadra Solution, which was involved in the project.

The KPK accused Sugiharto of committing malfeasance, given his authority as the official in charge of the project, which took place in 2011 and 2012.

KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto said the companies that won the project allegedly procured items not included in the contract. '€œFor example, it was written in the proposal that the e-ID card program should use iris technology. However, finger sensor-based technology was procured,'€ Bambang said at KPK headquarters on Thursday.

He added that there were technological mismatches between e-ID cards and the scanners procured as a consequence of the wrongly procured items. '€œThe e-ID cards produced are based on fingerprint scanning technology, while the procured scanners could only read iris detection systems.'€

However, Bambang refused to disclose other alleged violations in the project, adding that '€œall the details of the violations will be revealed in Sugiharto'€™s indictment later in court'€.

The KPK said state losses in the case were estimated to exceed Rp 1 trillion, making it one of the biggest corruption cases ever handled by the antigraft body. It is believed that many other parties were involved in the case.

On the same day Sugiharto was named a suspect, the KPK raided the office of Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi to looking for evidence. On Thursday, the KPK raided houses belonging to Andi in Cibubur; Sofran Irchamni in South Tangerang; Berman Hutasoit in South Tangerang; and Tunggul Baskoro in Bintaro, South Tangerang, to further search for evidence.

Previously, graft convict and former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin said that the project had been marked up 49 percent, amounting to Rp 2.5 trillion, of which Rp 1.77 trillion was distributed in kickbacks to the House of Representatives, the Home Ministry and the winners of the tender.

Nazaruddin also accused Gamawan of nepotism, for allowing a company owned by one of the minister'€™s '€œclose colleagues'€ to win the tender.

On Thursday, Gamawan denied that any markups had taken place in the program. He also said that the ministry had consulted with the KPK and asked the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) to audit the project. (gda)