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House of Representatives plenary meeting unanimously approved the establishment of a special committee to supervise a graft investigation into top executives of state port operator PT Pelindo II on Monday.

No lawmakers in attendance at the plenary session opposed the proposal made by chairman of the House of Representatives Commission III overseeing law and human rights affairs, Aziz Syamsuddin, who told the plenary that a special committee was needed to further investigate alleged graft in the procurement of fixed crane-type loading and unloading equipment.

'€œThe raid on Pelindo'€™s office by the Bareskrim [National Police'€™s Criminal Investigations Directorate] shows that this case involves corruption,'€ Aziz said during the plenary.

Besides Commission III lawmakers, the special committee will also involve lawmakers from various commissions that supervise related affairs, including Commission V on transportation, Commission VI on industry and state companies, Commission IX on labor affairs and Commission XI on finance and banking.

The Monday plenary meeting requested that each of the 10 political factions at the House submit the names of their representatives to the committee this week so that the special committee could carry out the investigation soon.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Masinton Pasaribu said that the party faction would take a particularly close look at poor management in the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry led by Rini Soemarno, which was blamed for the graft allegedly committed by Pelindo'€™s president director RJ Lino.

'€œGood management does not open the door for corruption,'€ Masinton told the press, calling for Rini to improve the system to prevent similar cases from reoccurring.

The House finally became involved with the Pelindo case after Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso was removed from leading the Bareskrim shortly after the police raided Pelindo'€™s headquarters in North Jakarta in late August.

Lino contacted National Development Planning Minister Sofyan Djalil to complain about the raid, citing an audit by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) that showed the company'€™s finances were free from irregularities.

Sofyan is known to be among Vice President Jusuf Kalla'€™s confidants, while Budi is a close associate of National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, who is known to have a close relationship with PDI-P chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Amid the wrangling over the case, Kalla personally called Budi to instruct him to drop the case.

Lawmakers stepped in and turned the Pelindo case political after reports that it might involve members of President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s Cabinet.

The ruling PDI-P has been a strong supporter of the formation of the special committee from the very beginning.

The National Police have so far questioned 24 individuals including company personnel and have named Pelindo'€™s operational and technical director Ferialdy Nurlan a suspect in the case.

Earlier, National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti welcomed the inquiry to proceed alongside the police investigation.

However, he said that the police would maintain their independence in the investigation, and would not be disrupted by the inquiry.
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