Dewie Yasin Limp (Antara/YUdhi Mahatma)

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said said on Friday that no money had been allocated in the proposed 2016 state budget to a micro-hydro power plant project in Deiya regency, Papua, which has sparked a corruption case implicating a lawmaker.

Sudirman'€™s statement came after Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators questioned Dewie Yasin Limpo'€™s personnel assistant Rinelda Bansoda, who was arrested by KPK investigators on Oct 20 allegedly accepting bribes.

Both Dewie and Rinelda have been named suspects in the case.

Sudirman insisted that he had never discussed the micro-hydro power plant project with Rinelda Bandosa. "No, I don't know Rinelda. There was no bargaining whatsoever because all of the budget discussions were held in official forums," he said.

"I have explained everything I know [to KPK investigators] and I also have explained that the project in question was not included in the ministry's budget because it didn't meet the necessary requirements," Sudirman said.

He did confirm, however, that Dewie had lobbied to include the micro-hydro power plant project in the state budget. During a meeting between his ministry and House of Representatives Commission VI overseeing energy affairs last April, Dewie had detailed the potential benefits of the project, he said.

He added that the project proposal, which had been submitted by the Deiya regency administration, had been rejected because its documentation was incomplete.

Dewie is accused of accepting bribes of S$177,700 (US$127,500) in relation to the construction of the micro-hydro power plant project. The case was launched after KPK investigators caught Rinelda and four other people red-handed making the transaction at a restaurant in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta. (bbn)

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