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Anies in hot seat as graft busters investigate flagship housing subsidy policy
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan must now oversee the first corruption case to embroil his administration, after investigators named the chief executive of a city-owned property developer suspect in a graft case.
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A man walks past a public cemetery near a building site for Jakarta's flagship housing project on Feb. 20, 2019. The apartment block in Pondok Kelapa, East Jakarta, is part of the zero-down-payment housing scheme initiated by Governor Anies Baswedan. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan could be in trouble after the president director of city-owned developer PD Sarana Jaya, Yoory Pinontoang, was named a suspect in a graft investigation linked to the governor’s zero-down-payment housing policy.
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named Yoory a suspect for allegedly marking up the cost for the purchase of a 4.2-hectare plot of land supposedly earmarked for Anies’ subsidized housing program, resulting in financial losses of around Rp 100 billion (US$6.9 million) for the city.
It is the first corruption case to be investigated under Anies’ leadership, adding to a long list of problems and lackluster performance his administration faces.
Authorities have launched probes into the subsidized housing project since last year after receiving tip-offs alleging that officials from two developers, Sarana Jaya and PT Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro), were involved in graft and money laundering practices during the land procurement between 2018 and 2020.
At the time, the KPK and the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) set up a preliminary investigation and questioned a number of officials from the two companies.
Read also: Two Jakarta-owned firms in hot seat over corruption allegations
On March 5 this year, the KPK named Yoory a suspect after finding two pieces of evidence related to the alleged mark-ups in the purchase of land in Munjul, Pondok Rangon, East Jakarta.
