The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has announced that a politician of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has been implicated in a graft case involving a top official of the General Elections Commission (KPU).

The announcement came a day after the graft busters arrested KPU commissioner Wahyu Setiawan as a suspect in a bribery case.

KPK commissioner Lili Pintauli Siregar explained that the KPK suspected Wahyu of having been involved in efforts by PDI-P politician Harun Masiku to gain a seat in the House of Representatives.

She said the operation was aimed at enforcing the law on rogue officials to prevent greater damage.

“The KPK and KPU sit together in this press conference to explain to the public that we are conducting this legal process to save the KPU,” Lili said at a joint conference at the KPK headquarters on Thursday evening.

“We can say that conspiracy between a poll body commissioner and a politician is a betrayal of the democratic process that we have built painstakingly and at great cost.”

The graft busters initially detained eight people in two separate operations on Wednesday and Thursday in Jakarta, Depok, West Java and Banyumas, Central Java.

The KPK has named four people as suspects in the case, including Wahyu and former Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) member Agustiani Tio Fridelina as alleged recipients in the case. Harun and a man from the private sector named Saeful were accused of being the bribe givers. They were charged under the 2001 Corruption Law.

Harun is still at large. Lili asked him to cooperate and give himself in.

Lili said the antigraft body would dig deeper into the case, including questioning others involved.

“We will summon related parties such as Pak Hasto. It depends on the investigation,” she said without giving further details when asked for confirmation whether aides of PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto were involved in the case, as widely reported by the media.

The investigators confiscated Rp 400 million (US$28,899) in Singapore dollars and a savings book allegedly related to the case.

Lili explained the case was related to the replacement of a lawmaker at the House based on the 2019 legislative elections.

The PDI-P filed a petition to the Supreme Court challenging a 2019 KPU regulation on the replacement of lawmakers, as a replacement was required for deceased PDI-P politician Nazarudin Kiemas, who gained the most votes in the South Sumatra I electoral district. Nazarudin is the brother of Taufik Kiemas, the late husband of PDI-P chairwoman and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the PDI-P in July, handing down the decision for replacement to the party. Based on the ruling, the PDI-P then sent a letter to the KPU naming Harun as Nazarudin’s replacement in the House.

However, in August the KPU appointed PDI-P member Riezky Aprilia to take Nazarudin’s seat as she had gained the second most votes in the election. The party then sent another letter to the KPU, in which Lili said Saeful allegedly asked Agustiani, who is also a PDI-P politician, to lobby Wahyu to declare Harun as the final replacement.

The KPK accused Wahyu of having approved the request and asking for operational funds of Rp 900 million.

The head of the PDI-P central executive board Djarot Saiful Hidayat acknowledged that Harun was the party’s politician but he stopped short of giving further details.

“Let us give law enforcement officials a chance to disentangle the case as part of the preparation for the 2020 regional elections and for the KPU to improve their system for the regional elections this year,” he told journalists on Thursday.

On Thursday morning, KPK investigators visited the party’s headquarters in Menteng, Central Jakarta, but they were not allowed to search the premises. PDI-P security officials reportedly denied the graft busters access over administrative procedures, a move confirmed by Djarot.

“We respect any legal process and we won’t intervene. But they [investigators] did not have a proper investigation letter,” Djarot said, adding that the party would help the KPK if needed.

The PDI-P gained the most votes in the 2019 general elections, raking in 19.33 percent, entitling it to the most seats, with 128 lawmakers at the House, and successfully securing a second term for its member President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

The case came on the eve of the party’s national working meeting slated to take place from Friday to Sunday, where the party is to announce the members selected to run in the upcoming regional elections.

After holding concurrent 2019 general elections that combined presidential and legislative elections, the KPU will hold another round of simultaneous regional elections in 270 regions in September.

KPU chairman Arief Budiman said the institution would hand over all necessary documents to help the KPK with the investigation. He also said the commissioners had instructed all regional KPU officers to work more professionally.

“I apologize for what happened in the KPU. We are here as part of our efforts to protect the KPU’s honor,” he said.

Titi Anggraini, chairman of election watchdog Association for Elections and Democracy (Perludem), said the case would certainly harm the democratic system in the country as it would cause the public to believe that the current direct election system, which has been in place since 2004, was corrupt and therefore should be dissolved. (glh/mpr)

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