T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) questioned scores of officials from the former culture and tourism ministry on Tuesday as witnesses in a graft case involving senior Democratic Party politician Jero Wacik.

Last week, the KPK again named Jero a graft suspect for allegedly instructing his subordinates at the ministry between 2008 and 2011 to collect illegal levies of Rp 7 billion (US$546,000).

In October last year, the KPK named Jero a suspect for the same offense after he allegedly collected Rp 10 billion when serving as energy and mineral resources minister between 2011 and 2013.

KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha said that KPK investigators grilled the ministry'€™s accounting division head, Muhammad Farid, and the ministry'€™s cooperatives division head Budiarto, as well as a former ministry official identified as Maesaroh.

'€œThe three were questioned as witnesses in a case against the suspect [Jero],'€ Priharsa said at the KPK headquarters on Tuesday.

The KPK said that Jero, who is a senior Democratic Party politician, allegedly instructed his subordinates at the two ministries to collect funds from procurement project kickbacks, markups of ministry budgets and devising bogus programs, adding that Jero committed the offenses because he was unsatisfied with the amount of operational budget he received in his ministerial roles.

The KPK is also looking into an allegation that Jero instructed his subordinates to plan fictitious meetings so that meeting funds could be channeled to his personal account.

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 back up its claim that members of Jero'€™s family, including his wife Triesnawati, could have benefited from illegal levies.

Last year, KPK chairman Abraham Samad said that Jero'€™s corruption was motivated by personal greed rather than being politically motivated.

'€œI think this is more about corruption motivated by personal greed,'€ Abraham said, adding that graft suspects tended to live lavish lifestyles that led them to engage in corruption to satisfy their needs.

Jero has repeatedly denied allegations that he had instructed his subordinates at the two ministries to collect dirty money for his personal needs.

The KPK has also questioned Triesnawati in the case.

Jero is also implicated in a bribery case plaguing the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, with the House of Representatives Commission VII overseeing energy and natural mineral resources suggesting that he had instructed his former secretary-general Waryono Karno to collect bribes from the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKKMigas) to pay off politicians at Commission VII to ease the deliberation of the ministry budget.