Attorney General M. Prasetyo said that during the questioning, investigators asked Karen about the procurement of 16 electric cars initiated by former state-owned enterprises minister Dahlan Iskan.

“It was especially about the financing of the project because Pertamina was asked to prepare funds for the purchase of the electric cars,” he said as quoted by kompas.com in Jakarta on Friday.  The AGO questioned Karen on Wednesday, he added.

Karen was president director of the state oil and gas company when the electric car project was prepared. Prasetyo said Pertamina was not the only party that funded the project.

Two other state-owned enterprises that also funded the project were state lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia and state gas company PT Perusahaan Gas Negara. Investigators have also questioned high-ranking officials of the two companies.

“As a state-owned enterprises minister, DI had the capacity and influential role in asking for funding for the electric cars,” said Prasetyo.

The AGO has named Dahlan a suspect in the case. The former minister filed a pretrial motion to challenge his suspect status but the court rejected it.

Yulianto, the corruption investigation head for the AGO’s junior attorney for special crimes, said his office had strong evidence of Dahlan’s alleged involvement in the case. This included the estimation of state losses by the Development Finance Comptroller, which stated the project inflicted Rp 28.99 billion (US$2.18 million) in financial losses upon the state. (dis/ebf)

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