Cak Imin tagged in indictments for bribery scandal

Jakarta, NU Online
The Corruption Eradication Commission may soon question Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar following accusations that he accepted bribes.

The accusations were heard in indictments against three graft suspects on trial on Wednesday.

“The very likely possibility is that we will again summon Muhaimin over the information from the court,” said Johan Budi, spokesman for the commission known as the KPK. “We will see the results of the trials where the witnesses will provide their testimony under oath and cannot lie to the court.”

The Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court on Wednesday heard the separate graft trials of I Nyoman Suisnaya and Dadong Irbarelawan, both of whom are officials at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, and private businesswoman Dharnawati.

“The defendant, I Nyoman Suisnaya, alone or together with Dadong Irbarelawan, Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar and Jamaluddien Malik, received Rp 2 billion [$222,000] from Dharnawati,” prosecutor Jaya P. Sitompul said in Suisnaya’s trial. Jamaluddien is Dadong’s superior at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry.

Jaya said Muhaimin had signed a letter appointing Alam Jaya Papua, a company in which Dharnawati is an executive, as executor of a regional infrastructure construction project in four Papuan districts.

He also said that a 10 percent commitment fee had been allotted for Muhaimin for projects worth Rp 73.1 billion.

On Aug. 13, Nyoman sent Dharnawati an SMS saying that the Rp 7.3 billion fee should be handed over. Dharnawati accordingly withdrew Rp 1.5 billion from her private account and gave it to Dadong, Jaya said.

“Suisnaya then telephoned [Muhaimin staffer Muhammad] Fauzi to notify him that the Rp 1.5 billion was ready to be used for the needs of Manpower and Transmigration Minister Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar,” Jaya said in the indictment.

Suisnaya, speaking to reporters after his trial, said the 10 percent commitment fee was “for the [House of Representatives] Budget Commission.”

He could not recall, however, the members of the commission who were supposed to receive the money. The KPK has already questioned at least four of the commission’s members. All three defendants face up to 20 years in jail.
 (jg/dar)