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Sports minister denies involvement in BTS graft case
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Youth and Sports Minister Dito Ariotedjo sits in the courtroom at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Oct. 11, 2023. He was testifying as a witness in a graft case pertaining to a government 4G telephony project, which has implicated former communications and information minister Johnny G. Plate and several other defendants. (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
Y
outh and Sports Minister Dito Ariotedjo denied on Wednesday that he had received money or that he was involved in suspected attempts to ward off investigations into the graft-ridden 4G base transceiver station (BTS) telephony project.
Dito made the statement when he took the witness stand for the prosecution at the Jakarta Corruption Court in the trial of former communications minister Johnny G. Plate and two other defendants accused of corruption in the BTS project.
The sports minister was subpoenaed by prosecutors from the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) after two prosecution witnesses implicated him in the alleged attempts to thwart the investigation into the corruption case.
Irwan Hermawan, president director of project vendor PT Solitech Media Synergy, testified late last month that Dito was one of three recipients of hush money that Irwan sourced from companies involved in the project. Dito, at the time, was a special staffer for Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto.
Irwan said he started distributing the money to help divert suspicions in 2021, when the project was being pressured over its lack of progress. Irwan said that he gave Rp 27 billion (US$1.8 million) to Dito through telecom infrastructure company PT Mora Telematika Indonesia president director Galumbang Menak Simanjuntak, who instructed his employee Resi Yuki Bramani to deliver the hush money to Dito.
Galumbang is also a defendant in the BTS graft case and is accused of lining up companies affiliated with him to be contracted as vendors using manipulated rules and marked-up prices.
Read also: Witness names sports minister among recipients of BTS project ‘commitment fee’
