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fter naming Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik as a suspect in an extortion case, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said it would pursue an investigation into an allegation that the Democratic Party had also illegally collected payments from agencies under the supervision of the ministry.

'€œFor now, our focus is to find evidence that the suspect [Jero] may have used his power to collect such levies from sources within the ministry,'€ said KPK deputy chairman Zulkarnain on Wednesday.

'€œHowever, it is possible that we would change the course of the investigation to see if he [Jero] could have abused his authority to collect illegal levies from outside sources,'€ said Zulkarnain, referring to the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas) and state energy company PT Pertamina.

On Wednesday, the KPK named Jero a graft suspect for allegedly forcing his subordinates to collect funds of around Rp 9.9 billion (US$842,052) from '€œillegal sources'€ within the ministry between 2011 and 2013.

'€œHe allegedly instructed a number of ministry officials to collect money through procurement-project kickbacks, to mark up ministry budgets and to devise bogus programs,'€ another KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto added.

The KPK said that the estimated amount of the collected levies could increase as the investigation progressed. The antigraft body has also collected evidence to determine if members of Jero'€™s family, including his wife Triesnawati, could have benefited from illegal levies.

Prior to the KPK'€™s extortion probe into Jero, the senior Democratic Party politician made headlines in January after a leaked document confirmed he was the man behind a House of Representatives bribery scheme, in which the chairman of House Commission VII overseeing energy and natural mineral resources, Sutan Bhatoegana, is a suspect. Sutan is also a senior Democratic Party politician.

In a KPK document, a copy of which was obtained by The Jakarta Post, Karen Agustiawan, former president director of Pertamina, told KPK investigators that former SKKMigas head Rudi Rubiandini once phoned her to say that Jero and he had agreed that SKKMigas would provide $150,000 to help ease the ministry'€™s budget deliberations in the House, while another $150,000 was to be provided by Pertamina.

'€œBesides Rudi Rubiandini, there are other people who have requested money from Pertamina. They are Waryono Karno [the ministry'€™s secretary-general] and Jero Wacik, who asked Pertamina directors Afdal Bahaudin and Hanung Budya for holiday bonuses for House members in 2012,'€ Karen said in the document dated Nov. 7, 2013.

However, when testifying at Rudi'€™s trial on March 4, Karen retracted most of the statements made in the document, saying Rudi was the only state official who had asked Pertamina for money and that she did not know to which House commission Rudi had planned to give money.

She did not mention anything about Jero in the trial. Karen resigned from her post last month.

Responding to the KPK'€™s move to name him a suspect, Jero said he would remain in the country and cooperate with the antigraft body.

Jero said that he would soon meet with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to discuss his legal problem.

'€œI have signed an integrity pact so I have to meet him [the President] first. He is still in Singapore [for a state visit],'€ Jero said, referring to a pact signed by all ministers in Yudhoyono'€™s Cabinet that requires all ministers from the Democratic Party to resign from their posts if they are being investigated for graft.

Democratic Party executive chairman Syariefuddin Hasan maintained that Jero acted alone in the extortion scheme. He said that Jero could soon be dismissed from the party and would be stripped of his seat in the House.

Jero is one of 61 Democratic Party politicians who won enough votes to get a seat in the House. He is the third minister in Yudhoyono'€™s Cabinet to be named a graft suspect, after former youth and sports minister Andi Alfian Mallarangeng, also a Democratic Party politician, and former religious affairs minister Suryadharma Ali.