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New graft scandal besets NasDem, challenging Anies’ presidential bid
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Syahrul Yasin Limpo is pictured in this undated file photo. (tempo.co/Iqbal Lubis)
The second corruption scandal this year to implicate a NasDem Cabinet minister may take a toll on the party’s 2024 electoral prospects and those of its presidential nominee, Anies Baswedan, as the opposition figurehead contends with a slide in opinion polling.
Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo of NasDem was summoned recently by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for questioning over alleged malfeasance in his ministry.
Koran Tempo cited sources who suggested that the KPK’s preliminary investigation had found sufficient evidence to launch a formal probe into the case and to name Syahrul a suspect in the near future, along with the ministry's secretary-general Kasdi Subagyono and director for agricultural machinery equipment Muhammad Hatta.
The KPK began investigating the Agriculture Ministry a month after former communications and information minister Johnny G. Plate, another senior NasDem member, was named a suspect in an embezzlement case related to funds for a government 4G telephony project.
Syahrul failed to turn up for his first and second KPK summonses for questioning on June 6 and Friday, citing business trips overseas. The KPK sent another subpoena for Syahrul to be present for questioning at its headquarters in South Jakarta on Monday morning. This time, the minister showed up.
Syahrul previously said he was well aware of the perception that the investigation was politically motivated and called on the public not to jump to conclusions before it was finished.
“I have observed that a number of people have connected this legal process to its political side. Despite such opinions, with humility, I, as an ordinary citizen, will go through all these hurdles. Of course, we still hope from the bottom of our hearts that the law can be properly enforced,” he wrote in a statement released on Friday.
