T

he National Police have confiscated Rp 69 billion (US$5.1 million) in their probe into a graft case involving a botched development project in Ketapang, West Kalimantan, from state-owned agriculture firm PT Sang Hyang Seri, the company originally in charge of the project in 2012.

The head of the police force'€™s anticorruption subdivision, Sr. Comr. Cahyono Wibowo, said the money had been collected from the profits of several state-owned enterprises involved in the project under the auspices of the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry, then headed by Dahlan Iskan.

'€œEach of the companies involved deposited around 2 percent of their profits [from the project],'€ he told reporters at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta.

Investigators claim that the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry authorized an allegedly fictitious paddy field project in Ketapang worth Rp 317 billion. In 2012, Dahlan launched the project and promised that the 3,000 hectares of paddy fields would expand to 100,000 by 2013.

However, a recent investigation concluded that no such development occurred despite the input of funds from four state-owned companies.

Previously, Dahlan claimed that in his last few months as minister he had transferred the authority to run the project from PT Sang Hyang Seri to state-owned fertilizer producer PT Pupuk Indonesia.

Cahyono explained that there was only one suspect in the case, former ministry official Upik Rosalina Wasrin.

'€œUR [Upik] will be questioned as a suspect tomorrow [Friday],'€ he said.