JAKARTA (THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has detained former commissioner of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), Rizal Djalil, for alleged bribery in relation to a potable water treatment system project.
"For investigation purposes, the KPK detained the suspect for at least 20 days from Dec 3, 2020 until Dec 22, 2020," the commission's deputy chief Nurul Ghufron said on Thursday (Dec 3), as quoted by kompas.com.
The arrest followed the detention by the KPK last week of Indonesia's Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Edhy Prabowo for alleged corruption related to his ministry's decision to lift a ban on lobster larvae exports. He was arrested along with more than a dozen other suspects.
Rizal is among suspects detained in the procurement of the potable water treatment system (SPAM) project.
The project involved the Public Works and Housing Ministry for the 2017-2018 budget year.
Rizal allegedly accepted S$100,000 from PT Minarta Dutahutama president commissioner Leonardo Jusminarta Prasetyo, who was also named a suspect in the case and had also been detained.
PT Minarta Dutahutama was handed the government project allegedly in return for Leonardo promising to give Rizal 1.3 billion rupiah (S$122,000) in Singaporean currency.
The KPK had in September last year named Rizal and Leonardo suspects in its investigations. The anti-graft commission had requested the Immigration Directorate General to issue a six-month travel ban for both Rizal and Leonardo as a probe was opened on Sept 20.
The KPK on Thursday revealed what had allegedly taken place behind the scenes.
Rizal had allegedly summoned the SPAM director to his office and said there would be someone to represent him.
The representative then told the SPAM official of Rizal's intention to take part in the main SPAM distribution network in Hungary worth 79.27 billion rupiah.
Rizal reportedly summoned the director after his audit agency found 18 billion rupiah worth of irregularities. The figure was later revised lower, to 4.2 billion rupiah, during an audit signed off by Rizal in October 2016.
But Rizal has in September last year denied revising the audit.
"The SPAM investigation report was issued in accordance with the prevailing regulations; I did not change even one letter or number in it," he said after questioning at the KPK on Oct 9, 2019.
"If anyone still questions it then I stand ready to face the parties levelling such accusations," he had said then.
At the time, he also said his status as a suspect had no correlation with the audit agency as an institution, and that the BPK had recouped 158 trillion rupiah for the state by the end of 2018.
