G

olkar Party politician Budi Supriyanto skipped a second questioning session on Monday at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) over a bribery case centering on a planned infrastructure project in Ambon, Maluku.

The House of Representatives Commission V overseeing infrastructure member missed the scheduled questioning amid allegations that he accepted S$404,000 (US$283,000) from Abdul Khoir, a businessman who was seeking to secure a road construction project in the region this year.

The KPK has arrested Abdul, along with Budi'€™s colleague on the commission, Damayanti Wisnu Putranti of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Abdul, also accused of giving S$99,000 to Damayanti, is the CEO of construction firm PT Windhu Tunggal Utama (WTU).

The KPK scheduled a second questioning session for Budi to collect more evidence of his involvement in the bribery case.

KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha said that KPK investigators would issue another summons for Budi in the near future.

'€œWe will issue another summons,'€ Priharsa said, adding that Budi would be questioned in his capacity as a witness.

The case emerged when KPK investigators arrested Damayanti for allegedly accepting a bribe from Abdul through Damayanti'€™s aides, Julia Prasrtyarini and Dessy Edwin, on Jan.14.

Abdul'€™s lawyer, Haeruddin Masaro, said that his client initially did not want to bribe House lawmakers but had no choice but to follow through with the scheme because '€œhe was just following an existing pattern.'€

WTU hoped to win a number of road project contracts in the Maluku province, and is suspected of requesting the assistance of lawmakers to secure the projects, which would be channeled through the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry.

'€œMy client just followed a path regularly taken by others in getting government projects. If you go to a traditional market, it'€™s usually the vendors who make offers before a buyer even says what they want to buy. That'€™s the analogy,'€ said Haerudin.

Haeruddin did not confirm or deny the existence of the $404,000 that his client allegedly funneled to Budi.

Julia and Dessy'€™s lawyer, Hendra Heriansyah, did not deny or confirm whether his clients had acted as middlepersons to deliver the bribe from Abdul to Budi.

'€œThe question is related to the material currently being investigated by the KPK and that'€™s something that we cannot discuss publicly. Let KPK investigators do their jobs,'€ Hendra told reporters at KPK headquarters on Monday.

The lawyer said that KPK investigators could net more suspects in the case if they were able to collect evidence such as wiretapped conversations or other material that could confirm that his clients had funneled the money to Budi.

'€œMy clients are just housewives who know a number of people at the legislature. [Damayanti] just asked them for help [to get the money from Abdul] and they knew nothing about the project in Maluku or Ambon,'€ Hendra said.