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Two named suspects in UPS graft case
The National Police have named two officials from the Jakarta Education Agency graft suspects in the procurement of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) facilities for state schools in West and Central Jakarta
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he National Police have named two officials from the Jakarta Education Agency graft suspects in the procurement of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) facilities for state schools in West and Central Jakarta.
Head of subdirectorate V at the police force's detective division, Sr. Comr. M. Ikram, said Monday the infrastructure section head of the West Jakarta Education sub agency, Alex Usman, and former head of the Central Jakarta Education Agency, Zainal Soleman, were both named suspects last Friday.
'We named them suspects after a case evaluation on March 27, 2015, which was held from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.,' Ikram told reporters at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta.
Ikram said investigators had found evidence that Alex and Zainal abused their power to benefit themselves and others, violating articles 2 and 3 of the Corruption Eradication Law as well as Article 44 of the Criminal Code.
Convicts found guilty of violating such articles face a maximum 20-year prison sentence.
Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama reported the alleged city-budget irregularities with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), underlining suspicious allocations in the councilors' version of the 2015 draft city budget totaling Rp 12.1 trillion (US$932 million). He also submitted evidence showing irregularities in the 2012 to 2014 city budgets.
The irregularities included a plan to procure UPS devices for a number of state schools worth Rp 6 billion per unit in the 2015 draft budget, and Rp 5.8 billion per unit in the 2014 city budget.
In past statements, Zainal, who is currently head of the Jakarta Youth and Sports Agency, explained that the UPS allocations were fair, as units were expensive and required a lot of funds to maintain.
The UPS graft case was transferred from the Jakarta Police to the National Police in recent days as investigators fretted a conflict of interest if the investigation remained at the provincial level.
The Jakarta Police have already questioned 73 of the 85 witness that have been summoned in the case, while investigators have questioned a total of 130 witnesses in the case.
Although Ikram confirmed that investigators estimate Rp 50 billion in state losses due to the UPS scheme, he was tight-lipped when asked whether there would be more suspects named in the case.
