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KPK action puts Religious Affairs Ministry back in spotlight for graft
The recent arrest of United Development Party (PPP) chairman M. Romahurmuziy, who has since resigned from that post, once again casts an unfavorable light on the Religious Affairs Ministry.
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A worker is wearing a T-shirt with the picture of the PPP Party Romahurmuziy on it on Tuesday, March 13, 2019, in Cideng, Central Jakarta. [JP/PJ Leo] (JP/PJ Leo)
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riday’s arrest of United Development Party (PPP) chairman M. Romahurmuziy, who has since resigned from that post, once again casts an unfavorable light on the Religious Affairs Ministry, which has seen two ministers sent to prison for graft in the past.
In 2005, then-religious affairs minister Said Agil al-Munawar was sentenced to five years in prison for the embezzlement of haj funds causing state losses of Rp 719 billion. In 2016, the Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced Romahurmuziy's predecessor at the PPP, Suryadharma Ali, to six years in prison, again for embezzling haj funds and misusing the ministry's operational funds.
Following the arrest of Romahurmuziy, investigators of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) are now zeroing in on the possible role of current Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Syaifuddin, also a senior PPP politician, in an influence-peddling scheme that has implicated the party’s leader.
Romahurmuziy is alleged to have used his influence as PPP chairman to help officials at the East Java office of the Religious Affairs Ministry get plum positions in exchange for cash.
The PPP chairman is alleged to have accepted Rp 300 million in payments from two individuals, Muafaq Wirahadi and Haris Hasanuddin, who wished to get promoted within the ranks of the ministry's regional office in East Java.
KPK investigators called the case involving Romahurmuziy a classic example of influence-peddling committed by leaders of political parties controlling relevant ministries.
In 2013, KPK investigators arrested then-Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq for his role in helping private companies get beef import contracts from the Agriculture Ministry. At the time of the arrest, a PKS politician served as agriculture minister.
