Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has often been praised for its willingness to go after high-profile corrupt politicians, from ministers to Constitutional Court judges. At the moment, the KPK is going after a huge chunk of the City Council (DPRD) in Malang, East Java, over what they believe is a huge bribery scandal.
Yesterday, the KPK announced that it had named 18 Malang DPRD members and Mayor Moch. Anton corruption suspects as a result of an ongoing bribery investigation.
Based on the KPK’s investigation, Anton, through his subordinate Jarot Edi Sulistiyono (JES), bribed DPRD Chairman Moch. Arief Wicaksono IDR700 million (US$50,931) during negotiations for the 2015 City Budget. Arief then shared IDR600 million of that money with 18 DPRD members.
“Investigators obtained facts backed by evidence that the suspects from the DPRD received fees from the mayor, with JES, to smoothen talks and negotiations regarding the 2015 City Budget,” said KPK Deputy Chief Basaria Panjaitan, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
Both Arief and JES were arrested by the KPK in August 2017, taking the total number of suspects in this case to 21.
Before being named a suspect, Mayor Anton has had to go on a legally mandated leave as he’s running for reelection in this year’s mayor race. Another suspect, DPRD member Ya’qud Ananda Budban, is also running in the election. Neither have made any indication that they will withdraw from the race, since criminal suspects are still eligible to run for public office under Indonesian law.
The KPK denied any allegations that the naming of suspects was politically motivated or related to the election.
The 18 DPRD members comprise of 40% of the total number of seats (45) in the Malang DPRD. That means, if the investigation progresses and the KPK ends up detaining all of them, almost half of the DPRD will have to be replaced.
