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n a bombshell allegation, businessman La Nyalla Mattalitti claimed on Thursday that Gerindra Party chief patron Prabowo Subianto asked him to pay Rp 40 billion (US$2.8 million) in return for the party’s endorsement for his gubernatorial bid in East Java.

The East Java Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) chairman said he refused to pay and lost his chance to contest the election.

“I was asked to pay Rp 40 billion. The money was supposed to be delivered by Dec. 20, if I wanted to get a recommendation,” he said as quoted by Tempo on Thursday.

A day earlier, when the General Elections Commission (KPU) closed registrations for regional election contenders, Gerindra announced it was supporting the Saifullah “Gus Ipul” Yusuf-Puti Guntur Soekarno pair in the East Java gubernatorial race.

The party has strongly denied La Nyalla’s claim, saying it never asked candidates to pay what is widely known as mahar politik (political dowry).

“On the contrary, it is the party or Prabowo Subianto himself who gives up so much money to support the candidates,” Gerindra deputy secretary-general Andre Rosiade told The Jakarta Post.

While La Nyalla’s claim has yet to be proven, political analysts and graft activists say that the practice of giving mahar politik was common in regional elections, and candidates now spend more money on buying political parties’ support than buying votes.

According to Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), regional head hopefuls could pay billions of rupiah to secure a nomination from a political party. The graft watchdog conducted a study in 2015 and found that two of four people claiming they had been asked to pay a political dowry decided to drop their election bids.

One indicator showing the practice was becoming more common, ICW’s Donal Faridz said during a discussion held on Thursday, was the fact that most parties now preferred to nominate political outsiders as their candidates.

He argued that parties did not want to worry about funding their candidates’ campaign.

Charta Politica executive director Yunarto Wijaya echoed Donal’s statement, claiming he had heard that election candidates now allocated more money for parties than for buying votes. They will also do anything to boost their electability, he added.

“Many of them are willing to spend a lot of money to manipulate surveys,” said Yunarto, whose institution also conducts political surveys for local politicians.

The Elections Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) said on Friday that it would summon La Nyalla and Prabowo to clarify the former’s allegation.

“If there is evidence for [La Nyalla’s] claim, then we will follow up on it,” said East Java Bawaslu chairman Aang Kusnaifi.

Under the 2016 Regional Election Law, potential candidates are prohibited from paying a political party or an alliance of political parties for a nomination in the regional elections.

Yunarto suggested that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) needed to expand its authority to help eradicate mahar politik.

KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah said the commission could not investigate people accused of paying political parties in return for political support.

“The transaction takes place before the nomination. This happens in a gray area, where it can’t yet be considered ‘money politics’ or said to have violated certain laws,” he said. (vla)