Indonesian speaker denies allegations in $173m scam

Jakarta, July 18: The speaker of Indonesia’s Parliament on Tuesday denied allegations that he helped cause big losses to the state in connection with the issuance of electronic national identity cards.

Setya Novanto, chairman of Indonesia’s second-biggest political party, Golkar, made the denial to reporters after a meeting with leaders of the House of Representatives.

The speaker said he read media reports saying he was named by the independent Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) as a suspect in the alleged state loss of at least $173 million from the identity-card programme.

Late on Monday, KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo told reporters that a legislator with the initials “SN” was suspected to have abused his authority to benefit himself or others while the electronic identity card, known as eKTP, was put in place in 2011 and 2012.

The KPK always refers to suspects by their initials andnever confirms their full names.

After Rahardjo’s statement, many Indonesian media named Mr Novanto as the suspect the agency is investigating.

On Tuesday, Mr Novanto told reporters he would obey the legal process, but said he was “shocked” by the allegations and denied any wrongdoing.

“Whatever I’m accused of is not true,” he said. “If they say that I received funds, I’ve never done that. The sum of that money is incredibly huge. How was it transferred, how was it received?”

The KPK has been investigating allegations that sums ranging from $5,000 to $5.5 million — were divided up in a room inparliament.

In March, two public servants on trial for corruption linked to the eKTP case named at least 37 people, including Mr Novanto, who they said had benefited.