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KPK seals ministry office after regent arrest
No entry: A security officer at the Disadvantaged Regions Ministry inspects one of the doors locked by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Tuesday
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No entry: A security officer at the Disadvantaged Regions Ministry inspects one of the doors locked by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Tuesday. The KPK sealed the offices of several senior officials at the ministry who have been implicated in cases of corruption following Mondayâs arrest of Yesaya Sombuk, the regent of Biak Numfor, Papua. (Antara/Vitalis Yogi Trisna) (KPK) on Tuesday. The KPK sealed the offices of several senior officials at the ministry who have been implicated in cases of corruption following Mondayâs arrest of Yesaya Sombuk, the regent of Biak Numfor, Papua. (Antara/Vitalis Yogi Trisna)
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span class="inline inline-none">No entry: A security officer at the Disadvantaged Regions Ministry inspects one of the doors locked by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Tuesday. The KPK sealed the offices of several senior officials at the ministry who have been implicated in cases of corruption following Monday's arrest of Yesaya Sombuk, the regent of Biak Numfor, Papua. (Antara/Vitalis Yogi Trisna)
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) announced on Tuesday night that it had sealed a number of offices at the Disadvantaged Regions Ministry, which is led by National Awakening Party (PKB) politician Helmy Faisal Zani, following the arrest of a regent in relation to alleged bribery attempts concerning a state project handled by the ministry.
The KPK caught Papua's Biak Numfor Regent Yesaya Sombuk red-handed in a hotel in Jakarta on Monday night accepting S$100,000 (US$79,974) in bribes from a person identified as Teddy Renyut, who allegedly wanted to secure a sea embankment project that had been earmarked for the regency by the ministry.
Biak is listed as one of the country's most disadvantaged regions.
'The sealing is to ensure evidence is not removed from the offices should KPK investigators conduct raids in relation to the case in the future,' KPK chairman Abraham Samad said.
The Jakarta Post has learned that one of the offices sealed by the KPK was Helmy's, but Samad was quick to deny that all the offices belonged to a ministry official who was handling the contested project.
'It was not the minister's office. One of the rooms sealed belonged to one of the deputies who was handling the project,' he added.
The KPK said it was possible to question Helmy about the case, but so far it planned to focus its investigation on Yesaya and Teddy.
On Tuesday night, around 20 hours after the arrest, the KPK declared Yesaya and Teddy suspects but released four others who were also nabbed on the spot along with the two suspects.
'We have found two pieces of strong evidence that the two committed corruption,' Samad said, adding that the two individuals would be detained at the KPK detention center immediately after KPK investigators finished questioning them.
The KPK said it was still establishing with Yesaya and Teddy why they conducted the transaction in Jakarta, not Biak.
'We will establish that,' KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto said.
Asked whether Teddy was close to ministry officials, including Helmy, Bambang said the KPK suspected Teddy was a middleman who had tried to lobby officials at the ministry.
Helmy held a press conference at his ministry on Tuesday to clarify the KPK's move to seal his ministry.
He said he did not know Yesaya and emphasized that he did not receive any money from the regent. 'There was no fee. We work according to the rules,' Helmy said at his office on Tuesday.
He said he had visited Biak a couple of years prior to Yesaya taking up a leadership position in the Biak administration.
'When I was there, his predecessor was leading the administration. I went there to officiate a clean water project,' Helmy went on.
He added that he had not yet been notified by the KPK about the arrest so he did not have any knowledge of the KPK's investigation.
'We respect the legal process and the KPK. We support the KPK's move to eradicate corruption in the country. We have yet to learn about the ongoing investigation at the KPK,' Helmy said.
