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Big-name legislative candidates received illegal funds: PPATK
The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) said on Sunday it had sent reports to the Elections Monitoring Agency (Bawaslu) on scores of legislative candidates who allegedly received funds from illegal sources to pay for their campaigns in the April 9 legislative election
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he Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) said on Sunday it had sent reports to the Elections Monitoring Agency (Bawaslu) on scores of legislative candidates who allegedly received funds from illegal sources to pay for their campaigns in the April 9 legislative election.
According to PPATK deputy chairman Agus Santoso, the PPATK initially received a request from Bawaslu to probe the bank accounts of a number of legislative candidates, some of whom are incumbents.
Its investigation later found that the bank accounts of the candidates, whose number the PPATK did not specify, contained suspicious transactions.
'The PPATK found many alleged suspicious transactions in the collecting of campaign funds by legislative candidates,' Agus told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
He refused to reveal the identities of the legislative candidates, saying such a move would hamper the ongoing investigation being conducted by Bawaslu.
Some incumbents were re-elected in the 9 April legislative election for the 2014-2019 term at the House of Representatives.
Separately, Bawaslu chairman Muhammad confirmed his office had received what he called 'secret documents' from the PPATK, containing the names of the legislative candidates with suspicious transactions in relation to their campaign funds.
He said he was surprised to learn from reports that the names of a number of prominent politicians, who have important positions in political parties, appeared on the documents.
'The PPATK chairman has handed the secret documents to Bawaslu and I was surprised to learn that the documents mentioned high profile individuals who are very well-known to the public,' Muhammad said.
Muhammad, however, declined to give details about the individuals.
'I don't want to talk about the details of the investigation by revealing the identities of high profile political figures and what parties they belong to,' Muhammad went on.
He said as soon as Bawaslu's investigation confirmed criminal violations had taken place, his office would file an official report with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to launch a criminal investigation into the legislative candidates.
The Post has learned that individuals suspected of illegal transactions hold positions in political parties ranging from secretary-general to former chairman.
The PPATK, Bawaslu and the KPK are slated to hold a coordination meeting on Monday to discuss the fate of the legislative candidates before the case is officially handed over to the KPK.
Meanwhile, KPK spokesman Johan Budi said the antigraft body would welcome Bawaslu's move to file reports on the legislative candidates.
'We will first analyze Bawaslu's reports then we will decide on what to do next,' Johan said.
Johan said any illegal financial support to fund legislative candidates' campaign activities could be categorized as gratuities.
According to Law No.8/2012 on elections, legislative candidates are only allowed to receive financial support from their respective parties.
However, political parties are allowed to receive donations from individuals and companies.
The law says an individual can donate a maximum Rp 1 billion (US$84,000) to a political party, while companies can give a maximum Rp 7.5 billion to a political party.
