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KPK stirs political pot with major graft investigations
Walk of shame: Golkar Party official Fahd El Fouz (center) walks out of the headquarters of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in a suspect’s vest after being questioned by investigators on Friday
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span class="inline inline-center">Walk of shame: Golkar Party official Fahd El Fouz (center) walks out of the headquarters of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in a suspect’s vest after being questioned by investigators on Friday. The antigraft body arrested him in relation to the procurement of Qurans at the Islamic Education Directorate General at the Religious Affairs Ministry and the procurement of computer laboratories in Islamic junior high schools between 2011 and 2012.(Antara/M. Agung Rajasa)
After being rebuked for shifting its focus to local graft in 2016, targeting regents and mayors with little national clout, the country’s antigraft body has again set its sights on bigger game by investigating high-profile graft cases implicating political bigwigs.
On Friday, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) detained a Golkar Party politician known to be a close ally of party leader Setya Novanto.
On Thursday night, the KPK announced it had named Fahd El Fouz, chairman of Golkar’s youth wing, a suspect in a 2011/2012 corruption case surrounding the procurement of Qurans and laboratory equipment for Islamic schools by the Religious Affairs Ministry.
Febri Diansyah, a spokesman for the KPK, said the commission had gathered “new evidence” that led it to name Fahd as the latest suspect in the case, which was thought to be closed when the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced former Religious Affairs Ministry official Ahmad Jauhari to eight years in prison for his role in the case three years ago.
In 2013, the court sentenced the first two suspects in the case — Golkar politician Zulkarnaen Djabar and his son Dendy Prasetia — to 15 and eight years in prison, respectively.
In the prosecutor’s indictment of Ahmad, Fahd’s name was mentioned as one of the former’s collaborators, apart from Zulkarnaen. But Fahd seemed to be off the hook until his arrest on Friday.
The move to name Fahd a suspect came just days after the KPK launched a full-blown investigation into the Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) case by naming Syafruddin Arsyad Tumenggung, the chairman of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) a suspect.
The graft case, which allegedly caused billions of dollars in state losses, is one the biggest the KPK has handled, and it could conceivably implicate former president and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri. Syafruddin was IBRA chairman under Megawati.
In an apparent attempt to clear Megawati of any allegations of involvement in the case, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has defended his ally, saying people should not “blame” Megawati because his predecessor had merely issued a decree for the legal basis of the BLBI scheme.
The KPK has indicated it will not be questioning Megawati about the case in the near future.
Jokowi, despite being a PDI-P politician, has been seen as a political outsider and, unlike Golkar, his party has yet to express support for his reelection in 2019.
While the President spoke to defend Megawati, he said nothing about Golkar leader Setya, one of his biggest supporters.
Setya, along with other senior politicians, has been implicated in the corruption case relating to the massive embezzlement of funds from the e-ID procurement project, and was issued with a travel ban earlier this month.
Setya is linked to Andi Narogong, a businessman who is accused of devising the scheme to plunder Rp 2.3 trillion from the project in 2011. KPK investigators are convinced that although some of the companies are registered to Andi, they in fact belong to Setya.
The arrest of Fahd, who is said to be close to Setya, is likely to increase the pressure on the Golkar leader, who is already facing calls for his ouster over his implication in the e-ID case.
Several Golkar executives have claimed the need to protect the party from further damage ahead of the concurrent regional elections in 2018 and the 2019 general elections by ousting Setya from his current position as chairman.
Yorrys Raweyai, Golkar’s head of political, legal and security affairs, gave a harsh comment in response to the case implicating Fahd, saying it would further harm the party’ ambitions ahead of the 2018 and 2019 elections. “The party needs to take strategic steps to repair its name.”
Arya Fernandes, a political observer with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said the current “tempestuous” period for Golkar could increase tensions within the party.
Analysts have said the ongoing internal strife within Golkar could jeopardize the party’s support for Jokowi in 2019.
A faction within Golkar led by Aburizal Bakrie, which is seeking to oust Setya, is closer to Jokowi’s potential rival in 2019, Prabowo Subianto.
The ongoing developments in the e-ID and BLBI cases, Arya said, could undermine the country’s political situation if elite party figures, such as party chiefs and secretary generals, are implicated in the cases.
“Apart from the internal damage to parties, the implication of top-level party members in the e-ID and BLBI cases could damage the public’s perception of political parties,” Arya said.
