T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) says it may name more suspects in the graft case involving Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Adriansyah, who was arrested in a sting operation on the sidelines of the ruling party'€™s national congress in Bali last week.

The KPK suspect that Kalimantan-based company PT Mitra Maju Sukses, which allegedly bribed Adriansyah with regard to a mining permit in South Kalimantan, may also have paid bribes to other individuals, including Adriansyah'€™s son Bambang Alamsyah, who is the current regent of Tanah Laut in South Kalimantan, the electoral district of the PDI-P lawmaker.

Adriansyah is known to control the regency through his political dynasty, which he has built up over the past decade.

He wrapped up his decade-long leadership of Tanah Laut regency in 2013 and in a move to retain control of the regency, he successfully put his son into office in the same year, and then went on to secure a seat at the House of Representatives in the April 2014 legislative election.

KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha said that KPK investigators would summon Bambang over allegations that he was also a benefactor in the scheme.

Bambang may have collected payments following the issuance of the mining permit as the permit was approved during the tenure of Adriansyah and the company had continued to make regular payments.

'€œWe will uncover more of his [Bambang'€™s] role in the case, whether he has also accepted money from the company or not,'€ Priharsa said at the KPK headquarters on Monday.

Priharsa added that the issuance of the permit was just one of several deals PT Mitra Maju made with the Tanah Laut administration under the leadership of Adriansyah that would be investigated.

In addition, KPK investigators on Monday conducted raids to collect more evidence in the case including one at the office of PT Mitra Maju located on the 40th floor of the Menara Batavia tower in Central Jakarta.

'€œFrom the raid we confiscated a number of important documents to support our investigation into the case,'€ Priharsa said.

KPK investigators nabbed Adriansyah along with Rp 500 million (US$38,554) in suspected bribe money on Thursday night in a hotel in Sanur, Bali, where the PDI-P congress was taking place, along with a Jakarta-based police officer identified as Brig. Agung Krisdianto, who allegedly delivered the money from businessman Andrew Hidayat, the owner of PT Mitra Maju.

The KPK investigators are also working to uncover links between the money and the PDI-P congress.

The PDI-P executives have denied any bribe payments were linked to the congress.

'€œWe will further study what the money was for. Where the money was to be channeled to,'€
Priharsa said.

Contacted separately, PDI-P politician Eva Sundary confirmed the PDI-P was one of several political parties that had supported the candidacy of Bambang in the Tanah Laut election in 2013, but she declined to confirm whether Bambang was a PDI-P member.

'€œYes, he [Bambang] replaced his father as Tanah Laut regent but I am not sure whether he is a party official or not,'€ Eva said on Tuesday.

The KPK has charged Adriansyah under Article 12 of the 1999 Corruption Law, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years behind bars, while Andrew was charged under Article 5 of the law, which carries a maximum five years in prison, for allegedly bribing the politician.

Adriansyah is currently detained at a KPK joint detention facility at the Guntur Military Police detention center in South Jakarta, while Andrew is being held inside the antigraft body'€™s detention facility at the KPK headquarters in South Jakarta.