A

fter months of investigation, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) says it has found evidence to implicate a lawmaker from the National Awakening Party (PKB), Zainuddin Musa, in a bribery case.

The KPK moved to question Zainuddin, a member of the House of Representatives Commission V overseeing infrastructure, on Thursday following an allegation that PT Windhu Tunggal Utama CEO Abdul Khoir, a businessman hoping to build state housing in Ambon, Maluku, had handed out about Rp 41 billion to coax the commission members to give him the project.

Abdul was arrested while trying to pay a US$99,000 bribe to Commission V member Damayanti Wisnu Putranti, a politician from the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), on Jan. 13.

Speaking to KPK investigators after his arrest, Abdul reportedly told his lawyer and KPK investigators that Rp 8 billion of the bribe money was allegedly sent to Zainuddin.

KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha confirmed that KPK investigators questioned Zainuddin as a witness for Abdul, saying '€œKPK investigators needed to verify some important information [with Zainuddin] before they could proceed with the probe'€.

Priharsa would not confirm if Zainuddin would soon be named a suspect.

Zainuddin declined to make a statement to the media before or after his questioning on Thursday.

The KPK questioned the PKB lawmaker, who finally showed up on Thursday after skipping a questioning session on Friday because of a health problem, one week after the antigraft body interrogated Golkar politician Budi Supriyanto.

Abdul claimed that Budi received S$404,000 in the scheme.

Budi had denied that he took bribes from Abdul.

Abdul'€™s lawyer Haeruddin Massaro confirmed that his client had set aside billions of rupiah to bribe '€œa number of parties'€ to secure the Maluku project, but he declined to give details about the recipients of the money.

Masaro said that his client, as a businessman involved in construction, regularly went to the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry to look for information about the availability of government projects, including the Maluku project.

'€œIf someone wants to know about a project then he will approach the ministry. The place is a regular haunt for him,'€ Masaro said.

The Maluku project consists of several sub-projects worth at least Rp 30 billion each. It is reported that the ministry is proceeding with about 19 construction projects to step up infrastructure development in Maluku.

Although the ministry decided the number of projects for the Maluku province, it is the House Commission V that has the final say on the disbursement of funds for them, a situation that prompted Abdul to allegedly bribe House lawmakers to secure the Maluku projects.

The bribery scheme began while President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo was pursuing a nationwide campaign to step up infrastructure development in the eastern part of the country.

Cities and regencies there are still considered underdeveloped compared to those in the country'€™s western area, such as on Java and Sumatra.

It is alleged that about two dozen lawmakers, including Damayanti, Budi and Zainuddin, from House Commission V had shared in the Rp 41 billion Abdul had reportedly spent to secure the Maluku project.

While Zainuddin'€™s status remains as a witness in the case, the KPK has zeroed in on Budi, also a witness, by slapping a travel ban on him over the case after the KPK raided the Golkar Party'€™s office at the House complex on Jan. 15.

The during the raid the KPK also searched for evidence in the offices of Damayanti and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician Yudhi Widiana, also a member of House Commission V. The KPK has yet to question Yudi in the case.