T

he National Awakening Party (PKB) is at the center of a bribery investigation related to infrastructure projects in Maluku as more of its lawmakers have been implicated in the case.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) questioned on Thursday three more PKB lawmakers '€” Fathan, Alamuddin Dimyati Rois and Mohammad Toha '€” to discover the recipients of Rp 41 billion in bribes allegedly channeled to 24 members of the House of Representatives Commission V overseeing infrastructure.

KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha said investigators had attempted to find out from the PKB politicians whether discussions had been held on the infrastructure projects, worth Rp 1.4 trillion, that would be funded through constituency funds for Maluku and North Maluku.

'€œOne of the points of the questioning was related to discussions on the constituency funds,'€ Priharsa told The Jakarta Post.

The case emerged when the KPK arrested businessman Abdul Khoir in a sting operation on Jan. 14 when he was alledgedly handing over S$99,000 to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Damayanti Wisnu Putranti, also from Commission V, in an apparent attempt to get support to be awarded projects.

The CEO of construction firm PT Windhu Tunggal Utama (WTU) was unsuccessful in his bid because of the KPK raid.

After four hours of questioning, Fatan fled from the dozens of journalists waiting for him to emerge from the KPK headquarters. He crossed the busy Jl. Rasuna Said in the afternoon and hailed a taxi to avoid questions. He was almost hit by car in the effort.

Journalists then obstructed his taxi for several minutes, but still failed to obtain a statement from him.

Breathless Fathan smiled and gave a thumbs up to reporters from inside the taxi after saying, '€œThat'€™s enough, friends.'€

Alamuddin and Toha were still being grilled in the interrogation room at the time.

Despite having been questioned, the three PKB politicians'€™ remain mere witnesses in the case, in which Damayanti is so far the lawmaker to be declared a suspect.

'€œInvestigators need to get as much as information as possible to build a strong case, including finding out the distribution chain of funds [from Abdul],'€ KPK spokesperson Yuyuk Indriati said.

On Thursday last week, the KPK grilled a PKB lawmaker on Commission V, Musa Zainuddin. To date, four PKB politicians have been implicated in the case.

Abdul reportedly channeled a total of Rp 8 billion to Musa, who allegedly distributed it to several lawmakers.

The antigraft agency has questioned other Commission V members, such as Golkar Party'€™s Budi Supriyanto and National Mandate Party'€™s (PAN) Andi Taufan Tiro.

Budi was alledgedly paid US$404,000, while Rp 8.4 billion was allegedly intended for Taufan. Meanwhile, Damayanti allegedly received Rp 4.2 billion on several occasions before her arrest.