G

raft suspect Wa Ode Nurhayati has called on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to question House of Representatives deputy speaker Anis Matta (Prosperous Justice Party, PKS) for his alleged involvement in the illegal disbursement of the Regional Infrastructure Development Acceleration (PPID) funds in 2010.

Nurhayati, a National Mandate Party (PAN) lawmaker, also urged the antigraft body to question fellow lawmakers Melchias Markus Mekeng (Golkar), Tamsil Linrung (PKS), Olly Dondokambey (Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, PDI-P) and Mirwan Amir (Democratic Party) for their role in the scandal.

While confessing her wrongdoing, Nurhayati said she hoped the KPK would not only focus on her, but also continue the investigation into the other lawmakers.

“I am only a victim. The KPK needs to interrogate the five big fish involved in the budget mafia,” Nurhayati said in an interview sent in an email to The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Nurhayati, who allegedly took Rp 6 billion (US$653,000) in fees from three regencies in Aceh, has accused Anis of abusing his power as a House deputy speaker who oversaw budget affairs. Anis was said to have forced Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo to approve some modified clauses on fund allocations and criteria for the regions to get the development funds.

In inserting the modified clauses, Anis was reportedly assisted by the four lawmakers without the consent of other Budget Committee members.

Nurhayati said she had evidence showing Anis sent an official letter to the Finance Minister, asking him to approve the scheme proposed by the Budget Committee leaders although the minister had several times expressed his objection.

She emphasized that it was not her but Anis and the four budget committee leaders who had set the allocations of the PPID funds to the regions. She said she hoped the KPK would find documents during its raid into the Budget Committee room that could be used as evidence to show a serious crime in the budgeting mechanism.

“The KPK must come into the budgeting mechanism and interrogate the four lawmakers to reveal the extraordinary budget crime. I am prepared for the verdict. But the KPK must launch a thorough investigation into the high-profile case because it deals with trillions of rupiah,” she said.

Eventually, the finance minister issued Ministerial Decree No. 140/2011 on the transfer of a PPID fund allocation worth Rp 6.3 trillion to recipients. According to her, the manipulation in which the four Budget Committee leaders had modified clauses without the consent of other committee members and the fact that the finance minister was forced to authorize the changes constituted a serious crime.