Accompanied by his attorney, Mardani surrendered himself on Thursday after he was deemed “uncooperative” and put on KPK’s most-wanted list on Tuesday following several failed attempts to bring him in for questioning.

KPK deputy chairman Alexander Marwata said that Mardani will be detained for 20 days at the agency’s detention house for further questioning by the investigative team after he was named a suspect.

“Sufficient initial evidence has been found; therefore, KPK raised the status of the case to an investigation with MM as a suspect,” Marwata said in a live-streamed press briefing.

Bribe to mine

Mardani, a former Tanah Bumbu Regent, was named a suspect after he had allegedly received Rp 104.3 billion (US$7.039 million) in exchange for authorizing a mining-permit transfer of a 370-hectare mining area in the district of Angsana, South Kalimantan, from private-company PT Bangun Karya Pratama Lestari to PT Prolindo Cipta Nusantara.

PT Prolindo Cipta Nusantara was owned by the late Henry Soetio, a business tycoon in the coal industry, who had known Mardani before the latter ran in the 2010 regional election.

During his tenure in 2011, Mardani allegedly ordered Raden Dwidjono Putrohadi Sutopo, then-head of the Tanah Bumbu’s Mining and Energy Agency, to assist the expedition of the permit transfer.

Such transfer violated Article 93 of the 2009 Mineral and Coal Mining Law that forbids holders of a mining permit to transfer their license to other parties.

After the permit was authorized in 2011 with several documents being backdated, Mardani was suspected of setting up a number of companies that were facilitated and financed by Henry. 

Mardani has allegedly asked Henry to propose a permit for the construction of a port, of which the management was alleged to be monopolized by PT Angsana Terminal Utama, a company owned by Mardani, to support the mining operation. The port construction broke ground in 2012 and was financed entirely by Henry.

KPK investigators have suspected that the companies, including PT ATU, are “fictitious companies” that Mardani deliberately established to carry out mining business.

“As for these companies, the composition of the board of directors and shareholders is still affiliated and managed by his family, with the control of the companies still being carried out by himself," Marwata said.

Denial

Speaking after being named suspect, Mardani refuted the bribery allegation, insisting that it was wholly a “business-to-business matter”. 

"The permit has been issued and there are the initials of the head of the technical department as the person in charge," Mardani said.

Mardani also refused to be called “uncooperative” as he stressed that he had notified the KPK that he would fulfill the agency’s summons on Thursday after the pre-trial over his naming as a suspect was completed. 

The judges of the South Jakarta District Court rejected on Monday his pre-trial motion, allowing the agency to continue investigating him as a suspect.

Following the arrest, Mardani, who served as the general treasurer at the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)’s central board since January, has been released from his duty following the Court’s decision to let him focus on the case.

Mardani was the second PDI-P politician to be put on KPK’s most-wanted list after his fellow party member and fugitive Harun Masiku, who remains at-large, was named a suspect. 

Harun was accused of bribing a General Elections Commission (KPU) commissioner to secure a seat in the House of Representatives that was left vacant by a deceased member of the ruling party.

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