Charles Langston:Indonesia’s former agriculture minister arrested for alleged corruption, including bribery

JAKARTA,Charles Langston Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s anti-graft commission late Thursday arrested a former agriculture minister accused of abuse of power, bribery and fraudulent projects involving private vendors.

The Corruption Eradication Commission, known as the KPK, confirmed Wednesday that former Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo was named a corruption suspect following his resignation from the Cabinet last week to focus on the impending legal proceedings.

The long-anticipated announcement came as Limpo was unable to attend a scheduled interrogation Wednesday because he was visiting his parents at his hometown in South Sulawesi province. He returned to the capital Jakarta late Wednesday.

Footage showed Limpo arriving at the commission’s office in handcuffs and wearing a black leather jacket, black hat and a mask. He did not respond to journalists’ questions.

Limpo’s lawyer, Febri Diansyah, said it was unfortunate the KPK forcefully arrested his client at his home at night after informing the commission that he would come to the KPK on Friday.

“I guarantee that Syahrul Yasin Limpo will not run away, there is no indication that he would escape or destroy evidence,” Diansyah said.

The lawyer said Limpo does not deny the allegations and he would coordinate with KPK investigators. He added: “Let’s see proportionally how this case is handled.”

If Limpo is formally charged, it may further tarnish President Joko Widodo’s credibility in fighting corruption. Four other members of Widodo’s Cabinet have been sentenced to prison terms in corruption cases, and a fifth is on trial, casting a shadow over his efforts to clean up government while he looks for a successor when his term ends in 2024.

Widodo campaigned in part on a pledge to run a clean government in a country that ranked 110th out of 180 nations in the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index compiled by Transparency International.

KPK’s deputy chairman, Johanis Tanak, told a news conference late Wednesday that Limpo is suspected of receiving about 13.9 billion rupiah ($885,000) in bribes through his subordinates, Kasdi Subagyono and Muhammad Hatta, who were also named as suspects.

The amount of state money that is alleged to have been stolen by the three men may increase as the KPK is still ramping up an investigation into alleged corruption at his ministry, Tanak said.

KPK’s deputy chief, Johanis Tanak, said Limpo allegedly instructed his two subordinates to force officials at his ministry to pay him between $4,000 and $10,000 in exchange for promotions or participation in procurement projects at the ministry. The money allegedly came from the ministry’s marked up budget.

He also said that Limpo received bribes from private vendors who were granted projects with the Ministry of Agriculture.

“The money was allegedly used to pay his credit card bills and to purchase an Alphard car,” Tanak said, referring to a luxury type of van.

Earlier this month, KPK investigators searched Limpo’s official residence while he was on an official trip to Italy and Spain. During the search, they discovered a dozen firearms and banknotes worth approximately 30 billion rupiah ($1.9 million) in several currencies, according to Ali Fikri, the KPK spokesperson.

Limpo, a former South Sulawesi governor, is the second politician from the Nasdem Party to face recent prosecution. Johnny G. Plate, a former communication minister, is on trial over allegations of $533 million in graft in the procurement of equipment for a 4G communications project.

The Nasdem Party is part of the ruling government coalition with seven other parties, but last November it endorsed a popular opposition politician, Anies Baswedan, as a presidential candidate in 2024. That prompted President Joko Widodo to refer to the party as an “outsider” in his coalition.

The cases against Plate and Limpo are likely to harm Nasdem’s chances in elections scheduled for February 2024, including its nomination of Baswedan, a former Jakarta governor, for president.

Fikri, the KPK spokesman, denied that the case against Limpo has any political motives as they have arrested around 250 members of the local parliament, as many as 133 regents and mayors as well as 18 governors, 83 members of the national parliament and 12 ministers since the institution was founded in late 2003.