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orruption Eradication Commission (KPK) prosecutors on Tuesday indicted Jero Wacik, a former aide of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, for multiple acts of corruption when serving as culture and tourism minister and energy and mineral resources minister between 2004 and 2014.

Between 2008 and 2011 at the former culture and tourism ministry, Jero allegedly misused his ministerial operational fund of around Rp 10 billion to pay for personal expenses amounting to Rp 7.3 billion and another Rp 1 billion for his family members.

'€œHe made an order to send the funds directly to him [instead of allocating the funds for ministerial activities],'€ KPK prosecutor Dody Sukmono said when reading the indictment at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Tuesday, adding that Jero instructed his subordinates to make false reports to hide his offenses.

Jero allegedly used the money to finance religious ceremonies and gasoline for personal vehicles. Apart from the embezzled money, Jero also asked culture and tourism ministry officials to pay attention to his family members'€™ financial needs, helping them to pay, for example, for spa and hair treatments, doctors appointments, daily food, credit card bills and religious items.

'€œIn October 2011, the defendant asked his subordinate Luh Ayu Rusminingsih to destroy all bills [from his personal and family members'€™ spending],'€ Dody added.

When serving as energy minister between 2011 and 2014, Jero complained to his subordinates about the small amount of ministerial funds that he received from the ministry, which was only able to provide him with Rp 120 million per month or a total Rp 1.4 billion per year, compared to Rp 3.6 billion per year he had previously received from the culture and tourism ministry.

To satisfy his demands, Jero allegedly instructed his subordinates to find other sources to finance his personal activities and family members'€™ needs by collecting money from kickbacks of state projects held at the energy ministry. The money collected for Jero reportedly totaled Rp 10 billion.

'€œThe defendant complained: '€˜How come this big ministry has such very a small ministerial operational fund?'€™ He instructed his subordinates to go to the culture and tourism ministry to learn the tricks he earlier employed there,'€ said KPK prosecutor Iskandar Marwanto.

The Rp 10 billion fund, allegedly acquired by the energy ministry by extorting companies registering for state project tenders, was used by Jero to finance the launch of his personal book, his wife Triesna Wacik'€™s birthday parties at a four-star hotel in Jakarta in 2012 and 2013, his own birthday parties, also in a luxury hotel in Jakarta in 2012 and 2013, and dinners with colleagues.

Jero also paid Rp 2.5 billion to Indo Pos daily chief editor Don Kardono, who helped mend Jero'€™s bruised image through a number of publications including Indo Pos, Rakyat Merdeka and Jawa Pos.

Jero denied all the KPK'€™s accusations, saying that the antigraft body moved to charge him due to political interests, in order to bar him from becoming a lawmaker in 2014.