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Witness names sports minister among recipients of BTS project ‘commitment fee’
After his earlier reluctance to name any names, defendant Irwan Hermawan revealed that Dito was among those who had received kickbacks, in his testimony on Tuesday as the defense's witness at the Corruption Court.
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Youth and Sports Minister Dito Ariotedjo speaks to reporters on April 3, 2023 following his inauguration at the State Palace in Jakarta. (Courtesy of Cabinet Secretariat /Agung)
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witness testified during a hearing on Tuesday at the Corruption Court in Jakarta that a lawmaker, a Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) official and a cabinet minister received kickbacks in connection with the graft-ridden 4G base transceiver station (BTS) telephony project.
Irwan Hermawan, president director of project vendor PT Solitech Media Synergy, told the court that he had collected Rp 240 billion (US$15.4 million) in “commitment fees” from companies involved in the project for distributing to various parties.
Irwan said he started distributing the money in 2021, when the project was being pressured over its lack of progress, Kompas.id reported.
Among the recipients he named were Nistra Yohan, thought to be an aide to a lawmaker of House of Representatives Commission I overseeing information and intelligence, but he stopped short of identifying the lawmaker.
Irwan told the court he gave Nistra Rp 70 billion as instructed by Anang Achmad Latif, president director of the Telecommunications and Information Accessibility Agency (bakti), which falls under the Communications and Information Ministry.
He also testified that he gave Rp 40 billion to a BPK official through a middleman identified only as Sadikin via Irwan’s personal assistant, Windi Purnama.
Windi confirmed in a separate testimony at Tuesday’s hearing that he handed the money to Sadikin in a parking lot of a Jakarta hotel.
