TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Committee to probe alleged bribery prior to Golkar congress
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Unity – Nurdin Halid (right), head of the Golkar Party’s extraordinary national congress (Munaslub) steering committee, leads a meeting at the party’s central executive board headquarters in Jakarta on April 14. The party is set to hold its congress in Bali on May 15. (Antara/Yossy Widya)
T
he Golkar Party’s ethics committee will organize a hearing on Thursday to investigate the alleged bribery of regional party officials by a chairman candidate.
"Earlier on Tuesday, our officials uncovered a meeting between AK, a chairman candidate, and West Kalimantan regional executive board members," ethic committee chairman Fadel Muhammad said on Tuesday.
The 40-member committee started its work last Saturday by monitoring the movements of chairman candidates toward voters that include leaders of the party's provincial, regency and mayoral chapters and the executives of Golkar’s organizational wings.
A source said the meeting between AK and the regional leaders took place in the middle of campaign trips on Tuesday.
Bambang Soesatyo, a member of Ade Komarudin's campaign team, denied that his candidate was involved in bribery. "There was no bribery and there was no meeting. I guarantee that. Prove it or we will take legal measures against this slander," Bambang told thejakartapost.com on Tuesday.
The party's steering committee in charge of the congress and the chairman candidates are currently in Surabaya to regulate the campaign for regional boards based in Java and Kalimantan.
The ethics committee has prepared a report on the "closed" hearing and has summoned all related parties. The committee said it had obtained a photograph of the meeting.
Aside from the discovery on Tuesday, the committee has also examined a report on alleged bribery in East Java orchestrated by another chairman candidate, Fadel said.
He said the committee would handle the reports carefully ahead of Golkar's national congress.
Eight Golkar politicians are running in the chairmanship race, namely current House Speaker Ade Komarudin, former house speaker and Golkar's faction chief at the House of Representatives Setya Novanto, Golkar's faction secretary Azis Syamsuddin, seasoned politician Priyo Budi Santoso, People's Consultative Assembly Deputy Chairman Mahyudin, legislator Airlangga Hartarto, politician Indra Bambang Utoyo, and South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo.
The ethics committee will soon deliver an official statement on its decision and the parties involved in the alleged bribery, said Lawrence Siburian, the committee's secretary. (bbn)
