Oman Daily Observer

Indonesian politician­s guilty in major corruption case

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JAKARTA: Indonesian politician­s, including the justice minister and exinterior minister, and officials were implicated on Thursday in a major corruption scandal estimated to have sucked about $170 million out of government coffers.

A special anti-corruption court began hearing a case that alleges huge amounts of money were siphoned off funds earmarked for a government project to issue new ID cards to the country’s 255 million inhabitant­s.

Even by the standards of graftriddl­ed Indonesia, one of the world’s most corrupt countries, the seriousnes­s of the allegation­s has caused widespread shock.

One current interior ministry official and one former official from the same department were the first to go on trial on Thursday at the Jakarta court over the controvers­y that allegedly took place from 2009 to 2015.

Parliament had agreed to allocate more than five trillion rupiah ($370 million) for the project but about half was allegedly embezzled and handed out to politician­s and interior ministry officials, causing the state an estimated loss of $170 million, the court heard.

An indictment released as the case got under way named high-profile figures accused of receiving kickbacks, including Justice Minister Yasonna Laoly, former interior minister Gamawan Fauzi, parliament­ary speaker Setya Novanto and other prominent lawmakers. Several politician­s named in the indictment have denied the allegation­s.

“This is horrendous because the allegation­s highlight corruption in procuremen­t and the budgeting process in parliament,” said Tama Langkun of watchdog Indonesian Corruption Watch.

Indonesia was ranked 90th out of 176 countries and territorie­s in NGO Transparen­cy Internatio­nal’s Corruption Perception­s Index last year. A number one ranking represents the least corrupt.

 ?? — AFP ?? Indonesian judge Jhon Halasan Butar-butar leads a trial on electronic National ID cards at a corruption court in Jakarta.
— AFP Indonesian judge Jhon Halasan Butar-butar leads a trial on electronic National ID cards at a corruption court in Jakarta.

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