T

he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) raided on Thursday the home of a businessman identified as Aris Mandji, in connection with the Hambalang graft case.

KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said that the raid targeted Aris' home at Jl. Jawa 16 No. 73 in Bumi Serpong Damai, in Serpong, South Tangerang.

'The raid is specifically connected with Teuku Bagus Mohammad Noor, the director of PT Adhi Karya,' he told a press conference at the KPK headquarters in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

It is yet to be confirmed whether Aris is the same person as Aris Mandji, the chairman of the National Youth Organization Association (Poknas), an organization associated with the Youth and Sports Ministry, which oversaw the Hambalang project.

On Thursday, the KPK also questioned more witnesses in its investigation into the scandal, including Purwadi Hendro Pratomo, the former project manager at state-owned construction companies PT Adhi Karya and PT Wijaya Karya.

The ministry appointed PT Adhi Karya as the project manager under a joint operation scheme with PT Wijaya Karya.

The KPK is expected to make a major announcement with regard to its handling of the Hambalang graft case.

Last week, Johan said that the KPK would soon detain former youth and sports minister Andi Mallarangeng as well as former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum, who has been named a suspect for allegedly accepting kickbacks from PT Adhi Karya.

Johan said that the two individuals would soon be following in the footsteps of Deddy Kusdinar, the first suspect in the Hambalang graft case to be locked up by the antigraft agency, adding that the KPK would act independently in detaining the two main suspects in the Hambalang case.

The KPK was expected to complete the dossier on Andi later this week and it was now coordinating with prosecutors, Johan said.

A source familiar with the investigation, however, said that Andi would not be detained this week due to technical difficulties.

Johan, meanwhile, said that he had not obtained information on when Andi would be summoned again by the KPK.

He was also unaware if the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) had finished calculating the state losses resulting from the graft case.

Earlier, KPK chairman Abraham Samad had said that the agency could only detain Andi after obtaining information from the BPK on the state losses.

According to the first investigative audit by the BPK, the Hambalang sports complex began as a modest single-year project with a budget of Rp 125 billion (US$12.6 million) before turning into a multi-year project worth Rp 1.2
trillion.

The cost of the project ballooned further to Rp 2.5 trillion after Rp 1.3 trillion was added to the budget for purchasing equipment, which caused massive state losses of Rp 243 billion.

The BPK is currently expediting its second investigative audit to come up with a more accurate calculation of the state losses caused by the scandal.