A bribery scandal may be brewing at the House of Representatives'€™ infrastructure commission as the antigraft agency has named two of its members suspects for allegedly accepting money in return for awarding projects in Maluku.

Following the earlier arrest of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician Damayanti Wisnu Putranti, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Wednesday named Budi Supriyanto of the Golkar Party as another suspect in a collective bribery case thought to involve a number of Commission V members and businessman Abdul Khoir.

The KPK said it suspected that the director of construction firm PT Windhu Tunggal Utama (PT WTU) had distributed Rp 43 billion to numerous lawmakers on the commission.

Budi was named a suspect after being questioned as a witness in the case, along with another six legislators from the PDI-P, the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN).

KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo said the antigraft body would not stop at Budi and Damayanti, adding that investigators were currently examining evidence to assess the roles of the six lawmakers in the alleged bribery scheme.

'€œThe KPK is closely examining their roles in the case,'€ Agus told The Jakarta Post.

KPK commissioner Saut Situmorang said that the naming of Damayanti and Budi as suspects was only the beginning and that it was just a matter of time for the KPK to extend its investigation to other lawmakers on the commission, which oversees the planning and funding of infrastructure and development projects.

'€œWe don'€™t want to make any hasty conclusions, because it could be that some of them admit [their offences] and others do not. We should collect evidence on whether they cooperated [in the bribery case]. We are applying a careful approach in our investigation,'€ Saut told the Post.

The KPK'€™s earlier investigation revealed that the commission members were involved in planning infrastructure projects worth Rp 1.4 trillion to be funded through special allocation funds (DAK) for Maluku and North Maluku.

The commission has the authority to approve and monitor infrastructure projects financed with the DAK.

The members can determine projects in the regions to be financed through funds disbursed by the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry.

Abdul was allegedly eying some of those projects and tried to deliver part of the bribe in January, when he, along with Damayanti, were caught red-handed by the antigraft body.

The KPK raided the offices of Damayanti and Budi at the House of Representatives to search for evidence.

In his questioning at the KPK late on Tuesday, Abdul apparently admitted to investigators that he had transferred Rp 15.7 billion to the ministry'€™s department head for national construction of highways and bridges in the Maluku region, Amran Mustari, who Abdul said had told him to bribe the Commission V members.

Maluku, where Abdul'€™s company is based, was chosen as the location for several projects under Commission V after Amran lobbied the House.

Abdul'€™s lawyer Haeruddin Massaro said each Commission V member could have at least one project worth Rp 60 billion under the fund scheme and several lawmakers had approached his client to offer him their projects.

Haeruddin said he hoped the KPK could dig further to collect evidence to charge other recipients of money from Abdul.

He refused to name commission members allegedly receiving money aside from Damayanti and Budi.
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