T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has confirmed that it is currently looking for evidence to charge former Jakarta governor and current Indonesian Ambassador to Germany, Fauzi Bowo, with graft.

The antigraft body is now working on evidence provided by the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK), which found that Fauzi, who is also known by the nickname Foke, had a suspicious amount of transactions, in the billions of rupiah in his bank accounts.

PPATK is the KPK'€™s partner agency with respect to its graft and money laundering eradication efforts in the country. In the past, PPATK'€™s report of suspicious transactions of the country'€™s high-ranking public officials had been essential for the KPK to charge public officials with corruption and money laundering.

KPK deputy chairman Adnan Pandu Praja said on Wednesday that the antigraft body'€™s investigators were currently examining Fauzi'€™s bank accounts to confirm whether the dubious transaction, which reportedly amounted to Rp 60 billion (US$47.15 million), was subject to criminal charges.

'€œWe are still confirming [the PPATK'€™s report] on Fauzi Bowo,'€ Pandu said, adding that as soon as the antigraft body gathered enough evidence then it would move to launch an investigation on the former Jakarta governor.

Fauzi lost in his reelection bid against then Surakarta mayor, now President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, in the 2012 Jakarta gubernatorial race.

The Jakarta Post has learned that the dubious transaction took place in 2012, when Fauzi prepared himself to run his reelection campaign.

However, it remains unclear if the dubious transaction involved funds used to finance Fauzi'€™s reelection campaign. Both PPATK and the KPK declined to give more details about the transaction.

But unconfirmed reports said that significant amounts in the dubious transactions are related to money wired by property developers in Jakarta. Also, several billions of rupiah in the transaction was listed as '€œpayment for several art pieces.'€

Separately, PPATK deputy chairman Agus Santoso said that he could not divulge more details about Fauzi'€™s financial transaction report and that the agency would only answer to the KPK.

'€œWe are always ready to assist the law enforcement institutions such as the National Police, the Attorney General'€™s Office [AGO] and the KPK to confirm our finding on public officials'€™ suspicious bank accounts. We have given reports on several suspicious bank accounts owned by public officials to law enforcement agencies from 2012 to 2014,'€ Agus said on Wednesday.

Fauzi has shrugged off the allegations, saying that he had never received payments made to his bank accounts. He also said that he had submitted his campaign fund reports to the General Elections prior to the balloting day of the 2012 Jakarta gubernatorial race.

'€œThere'€™s no way [that I received the money],'€ he said as quoted by tempo.co.

According to public officials'€™ wealth records submitted to the KPK, Fauzi last reported his wealth of Rp 59.3 billion and $325,000 to the antigraft body in March 2012, a significant increase from the Rp 15.1 billion and $167,000 figures filed in 2001.

Based on his wealth report to the KPK in 2012, Fauzi currently has six plots of land and buildings located in Jakarta, South Tangerang, worth a total of Rp 33.8 billion. He also owns a Mercedes-Benz sedan, a Land Rover van and four Harley Davidson bikes.

The antigraft body also recorded that Fauzi reported a total wealth of Rp 33 billion and $150,000 in May 2007, while in July 2010 the number increased to Rp 46.9 billion and $200,000.