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AGO grills sports minister Dito
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Youth and Sports Minister Dito Ariotedjo speaks to reporters following his inauguration ceremony at the State Palace in Jakarta, on April 3, 2023. (Courtesy of Cabinet Secretariat /Agung)
Y
outh and Sports Minister Dito Ariotedjo of the Golkar Party appeared at the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) on Monday for questioning in relation to suspected attempts to ward off investigations into the graft-ridden 4G base transceiver station (BTS) telephony project.
Dito was interrogated by investigators from the office of the assistant attorney general for extraordinary crimes (Jampidsus), along with seven other witnesses.
The AGO is seeking to determine whether “attempts to interfere with the investigation" into the BTS project were made, Jampidsus director of investigations Kuntadi told the press on Monday. He declined to reveal the cause of the suspicions or say who, if anyone, had been implicated.
Corruption in the 4G telephony infrastructure project, which was overseen by former communications and information minister Johny G. Plate of the NasDem Party, is thought to have cost the state some Rp 8 trillion (US$533 million) and has resulted in Johnny's removal from the Cabinet.
While the AGO has brought Johnny before the Jakarta Corruption Court for alleged corruption, it is looking further into possible money laundering in the BTS corruption case as speculation swirls about the involvement of more perpetrators.
Johnny is standing trial for allegedly accepting some Rp 17.8 billion worth of kickbacks from vendors and contractors in exchange for approving inflated price quotations for the construction of BTS towers. The illicit compensation allegedly included golf outings and trips to Paris, London and Barcelona. The case has also implicated Yusrizki Muliawan, president director of PT Basis Utama Prima, whose shares are reportedly mostly owned by businessman Hapsoro Sukmonohadi, husband of House of Representatives Speaker Puan Maharani of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
Tempo magazine reported last week that Irwan Hermawan, president director of PT Solitech Media Synergy, one of the vendors in the project, paid some Rp 243 billion to ward off investigations into the project.
