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Govt critic faces probe over alleged role in BTS case
The AGO’s move came after pictures of Adamsyah, also known as Don Adam, posing next to a box full of US$ 100 banknotes circulated on Twitter.
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Clear signal: A technician maintains a 4G base transceiver station (BTS) tower in Bendungan Hilir, Central Jakarta, on July 13, 2018. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
T
he Attorney General’s Office (AGO) is looking into allegations that a popular government critic played a role in the high profile graft case surrounding a 4G base transceiver station (BTS) project.
Prosecutors have said they will summons Adamsyah Wahab, the owner of the Twitter handle @DonAdam68, for questioning after being tipped off about his alleged role in the case. "We have got the information […] This is of course information that we can use in our investigation. If there are facts that we can explore, then why not? Of course we will summons him,” AGO spokesperson Ketut Sumedana said on Monday, as quoted by Tempo.co.
The AGO’s move came after pictures of Adamsyah, also known as Don Adam, posing next to a box full of US$100 banknotes circulated on Twitter. The pictures were uploaded by the account @ghanieierfan, which reportedly belongs to Irvan Ghani, a former Democratic Party member known as a loyalist of former senior party member and graft convict Anas Urbaningrum.
The account claimed that the pictures were taken in Adamsyah’s office on Jl. Praja Dalam in South Jakarta and that the money was related to the BTS graft case. Adamsyah has deleted its Twitter account and has yet to comment on the allegations.
According to Tempo newspaper, Adamsyah allegedly received the money from BTS graft suspect M. Yusrizki, an executive director at PT Basis Utama Prima, a company reportedly owned by Hapsoro “Happy” Sukmohadi, the husband of House of Representatives Speaker and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Puan Maharani. The AGO, according to the newspaper, had searched Adamsyah’s office, which it described as a hang-out place for alumni of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).
Adamsyah reportedly has close connections with Yusrizki as they are both members of the ITB alumni association. Other suspects in the case are also known to be graduates of the Bandung-based university, including Anang Achmad Latif, the former president director of the Communications and Information Ministry’s Telecommunication and Information Accessibility Agency (BAKTI), which led the BTS project, Solitech Media Sinergy president director Irwan Hermawan and human development expert Yohan Suryanto. They are currently standing trial for their alleged roles in the case.
The Democratic Party, the largest opposition party, stopped short of commenting on whether or not Adamsyah is still a member of the party. “[What] we can confirm is that Adamsyah is not a candidate for the Democratic Party in the upcoming 2024 legislative elections,” politician Kamhar Lakumani said in a statement on Tuesday. Another Democratic Party politician, Didik Mukrianto, said that his party respected the AGO investigation into the graft case and supported the fight against corruption.
