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.
Former Golkar chairman worried e-ID graft case could affect party
Change Size
Close talks – Then House of Representatives Speaker Ade Komarudin (left) accompanies Vice President Jusuf Kalla (second left) while attending an Indonesian Muslim University Students Association (KAMMI) meeting in Jakarta on Nov.12. Deputy Speaker Fadli Zon (right) and Deputy Speaker Fahri Hamzah also attended the meeting. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A.)
F
ormer House of Representatives Speaker and Golkar Party politician Ade Komarudin said Thursday he was worried the electronic ID card (e-ID) corruption case, which has implicated dozens of House lawmakers, including Golkar chairman Setya Novanto, would significantly affect the party.
Speaking in the e-ID trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Thursday, Ade told the court’s judicial panel he expressed his feelings to former Golkar chairman and senior politician Aburizal Bakrie when the high-profile case became public. He told Aburizal that if Setya was really involved in the case, it could lead to the “dissolution” of the party.
“I said, ‘I want Abang [Aburizal] reminded [of Setya]. I am afraid Pak Nov [Setya] was involved in this case. The party can break up,” Ade said as quoted by kompas.com. He was testifying in the trial of two Home Ministry officials, Irman and Sugiharto, who stand accused in the case.
(Read also: E-ID graft trial defendants brush off Setya Novanto’s testimony)
Ade did not detail when he met Aburizal but said it was when the latter was still Golkar chairman. Aburizal led Golkar from 2009 to 2014. Ade said at that time he read news stories that stated a portion of the e-ID money flowed to the party
“I really love this party because I have been a lawmaker until today [because of this party],” Ade said.
The e-ID graft case, which has allegedly cost the state Rp 2.3 trillion (US$172 million), has implicated more than 30 lawmakers in the House, including Setya, according to the KPK indictment read out earlier last month against the two Home Ministry officials. (saf/ebf)
