B

uol Regent Amran Batalipu arrived at the Corruption Eradication Commission’s (KPK) headquarters in South Jakarta on Friday for a late-night session with interrogators.

Amran was arrested by the KPK at his home in Leok I village in Buol, Central Sulawesi, at 4 a.m., and was taken directly to the capital.

The KPK alleged that Amran accepted a bribe to issue a permit for a plantation company owned by businesswoman and Democratic Party politician Hartati Murdaya.

The neighborhood near Amran’s home was quiet when the KPK, with local police officers in tow, arrived.

It took no more than 10 minutes for the law enforcement officers to arrest Amran, who was then taken to Tolitoli Regency before his flight to Jakarta.

An eyewitness who declined to be named said that Amran was wearing only pajamas and a sarong when he was taken out of his residence in handcuffs.

KPK Commissioner Bambang Widjojanto said that Amran resisted arrest. “He tried to fight back when our officers arrested him at his residence. He and his supporters even threatened us, and this led us to use force to bring him to Jakarta for questioning. We could not have done so unless law enforcers, as well as the public, in the region gave us a hand,” Bambang told reporters at his office on Friday.

The arrest of the regent reportedly angered his local supporters, leading police to arrange a hasty meeting with the supporters and local political and public figures.

Central Sulawesi Police Chief Brig. Gen. Dewa Parsana told those at the meeting that the legal proceedings that the KPK has started against Amran were separate and should not influence the upcoming regional election.

“The election is a democratic process for all the people, while the KPK’s investigation is a means to uphold the law against those who have allegedly committed corrupt practices,” Dewa said.

“It is important for the public to support what the KPK has been doing, thus all of us must control ourselves and not be easily provoked to resist the ongoing legal actions, because that will disadvantage the whole region,” Dewa said.

The KPK has also named Yani Anshori and Gondo Sudjono as suspects for allegedly bribing Amran to issue a permit for the company.

The pair are both directors with PT Hardaya Inti Plantation, a palm oil plantation owned by Hartati.

The KPK previously arrested Anshori for paying Amran Rp 2 billion (US$212,000) for the permit. Anshori is in detention at Central Sulawesi Police headquarters for questioning.

The KPK has also ordered the Immigration Directorate to impose overseas travel bans on eight people allegedly connected to the case, including Hartati and three of her employees, Seri Sirithon, Benhard and Arim.

The involvement of Hartati, who was once listed as one of Asia’s 50 most powerful businesswomen by Forbes, has added to the long list of Democratic Party politicians implicated in graft cases.

Expelled lawmaker and former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin, for example, was convicted of accepting a bribe in the Southeast Asian Games athletes’ village scandal, while senior Democratic lawmaker Angelina Sondakh was named a suspect and detained by the commission in the same case.

Lawmaker Nurhayati Ali Assegaf, who leads the Democratic Party’s lawmakers in the House, said that Hartati’s alleged involvement in the case should not be used to tar the party.

“We must remember that she had been conducting business long before she joined the party. Please don’t associate her case with our party because I believe it will negatively effect us,” Nurhayati said.

 The Democratic Party is not responsible for her and her role in the case,” Nurhayati added. (nad)