The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Wednesday January 21 2015
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said on Wednesday night that it had confiscated more than Rp 100 billion (US$8.01 million) in cash from former Bangkalan regent Fuad Amin, the single largest amount the antigraft body has ever seized.
KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha confirmed the confiscation, saying that KPK investigators had found that Fuad had hidden the cash in a number of bank accounts, which have now been frozen.
“The total is more than Rp 100 billion. We are still counting the exact amount. The point is we have confiscated all the money and it is now being handled by the KPK,” Priharsa told reporters at KPK headquarters on Wednesday night.
Priharsa added that the KPK had also seized two houses in Surabaya and six cars registered under the name of Fuad, a former Bangkalan Legislative Council speaker notorious for building a political dynasty in the region.
The seizures follow the recent money-laundering charges filed against Fuad, who was arrested in December for accepting “routine” bribes from a businessman in connection to a multibillion dollar gas contract he signed in 2007 when serving as Bangkalan regent.
The Gerindra Party politician, in his capacity as regent, allegedly approved the contract in exchanged for money from Media Karya, the company that won the contract from Pertamina’s subsidiary Pertamina Hulu Energi West Madura Offshore (PHE WMO). The bribes were allegedly given in installments, including a payment of Rp 700 million that Media Karya director Antonio Bambang Djatmiko allegedly made to Fuad in early December, whereupon the pair was arrested.
In addition, Fuad, whose political dynasty gave him immense power in controlling state projects in the region, is also suspected of accepting bribes worth hundreds of billions of rupiah from other parties when he was in office at the Bangkalan administration between 2003 and 2013.
Fuad wrapped up his decade-long rule of Bangkalan regency in 2013. In a move to retain control of the regency, he installed his 28-year old son Makmun Ibnu as the country’s youngest ever regent, while he himself took control of the leadership of the local legislative assembly in 2013.
The KPK said that the investigation was far from over, as it had found strong indications that Fuad had other assets hidden that he had bought using dirty money. Priharsa refused to comment on the value of the other assets that KPK investigators planned to confiscate.
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wo 21 jan 2015 - 23:06