T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has arrested a number of officials and businesspeople in Bekasi regency, West Java, for alleged bribery concerning the issuance of property permits for the modern city of Meikarta — a flagship project of diversified conglomerate Lippo Group.

The alleged case also implicates Bekasi Regent Neneng Hassanah Yasin, who was named a suspect by the antigraft body on Monday evening, for allegedly accepting bribes amounting to Rp 513 million (US$33,740) and S$90,000 from businesspeople in regard to the project.

The KPK also named businessman Billy Sindoro, who according to KPK is a Lippo Group executive, a suspect, along with two Lippo Group consultants — Taryudi and Fitra Djaja Purnama — and Lippo employee Henry Jasmen.

“Several suspects who allegedly gave the bribes —HJ, RDP and T—said they had done so at the instruction of BS. He knows and gave instructions to other individuals who acted as consultants for the company,” KPK deputy chairman Laode Muhammad Syarif said during a press briefing on Monday night.

Laode’s statement referred to Henry Taryudi and Fitra, as well as Billy.

Despite his suspect status, investigators have yet to determine Billy’s whereabouts.

“We hope the suspect is willing to cooperate with us during the investigation and surrender himself to the antigraft body,” Laode said.

The case started when KPK investigators arrested a number of individuals, including Bekasi Public Works and Housing (PUPR) Agency head Jamaluddin on Sunday before moving to other locations to arrest more individuals allegedly involved in the case.

Meanwhile, Neneng was arrested on Monday evening.

Only hours before her arrest, Neneng said Jamaluddin’s arrest “came as a shock” to her.

Neneng said she had issued a warning at the start of this year to officials from the PUPR agency to be careful when dealing with property permits.

She added that she had also issued a warning to Jamaluddin.

“I swear to God, I had no idea [about the alleged bribery],” Neneng said, as quoted by tempo.co earlier on Monday before her arrest.

A number of workrooms at the Bekasi administration office, including the PUPR agency’s, had also been sealed, KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah said.

Bribery is the most prevalent of crimes handled by the KPK, with 474 cases between 2004 and 2018, followed by procurement mismanagement with 180 cases and budget misappropriation with 46 cases out of a total of
781 cases.

Permits surrounding the Meikarta project came into the spotlight in August last year, when the Indonesian Ombudsman initiated a public hearing to probe the possibility of maladministration regarding the matter.

The hearing, according to Ombudsman commissioner Adrianus Meilala at that time, was held after the Ombudsman heard about news reports related to the permits for the project.

Representatives of the West Java administration, the Bekasi administration and the Agrarian and Spatial Planning Ministry were present for the hearing, but representatives from the developer were absent.

During the hearing, the then-Bekasi Environmental Agency head Daryanto said the West Java provincial administration had yet to issue the required documents for the construction project, namely the environmental impact analysis (Amdal) and the building permit (IMB).