Sita W. Dewi, Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) raided the head office of construction firm PT Adhi Karya on Friday to collect more evidence for a graft scandal surrounding the construction of the Rp 2.5 trillion (US$265 million) Hambalang sports complex in Bogor, West Java.
A day before, KPK teams simultaneously raided seven different locations, including the offices of the Youth and Sports Ministry's planning division in Central Jakarta and Cibubur, construction firms PT Adhi Karya and PT Wijaya Karya and the East Jakarta Public Works Agency.
"As of now [around 4 p.m.], our team is searching Adhi Karya's head office in Pasar Minggu [South Jakarta]," KPK spokesperson Johan Budi told reporters at the KPK headquarters in Jakarta on Friday.
Johan said that from Thursday's raids, KPK investigators had managed to gather stacks of documents related to the case. He also denied speculation that the KPK also raided the office of Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng in the ministry's office building on Thursday.
A travel ban had been imposed on Dedi Kusdinar, the ministry's financial and internal affairs bureau chief, who had been named a suspect, Johan said, and added that the KPK would soon summon Dedi for questioning.
Three witnesses in the case; Ciriajasa Cipta Mandiri director Aman Santoso, Yodha Karya director Yudi Wahyono and CV Rifa Media director Lisa Lukitawati; have also been banned from traveling abroad.
Dedi had allegedly misused his authority as a public official in connection with the procurement process in the construction project of the Hambalang sports center.
Last week, the KPK upgraded the status of the Hambalang probe from an inquiry into a fully-fledged investigation after investigators said they had found enough evidence to prove that graft occurred during the construction project. Johan said that the state had allegedly lost billions of rupiah due to fraudulent practices surrounding the construction project.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) is pushing for the KPK to expand its list of suspects in the Hambalang case. ICW law researcher Tama Langkun said on Friday that Dedi was not the person that called the shots in the case, and that the KPK should be ready to include higher-level suspects in its investigation.
"Borrowing the ladder analogy used by BW [KPK deputy chairman Bambang Widjojanto], then the KPK has to move on to a higher rung of the ladder," Tama said on Friday, as quoted by kompas.com.
On Thursday, Bambang had described Dedi's position in the Hambalang case as being on the "first rung of the ladder", meaning that he was a low-level suspect. "What Bambang has said is very good. [Identifying ministry members like Dedi as suspects] is a great way of looking for higher-ranked suspects," Democratic Party lawmaker Ruhut Sitompul said as quoted by Antara news agency.
Bambang also said that his office was ready to process high-level figures like Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum and Andi Mallarangeng.
Former Democratic Party treasurer, Muhammad Nazaruddin, who was convicted in another graft scandal, has accused Anas of playing a major role in the Hambalang project, which was launched by the Youth and Sports Ministry in 2010.
Meanwhile, House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie has voiced support for the KPK's efforts to raid offices it believes are connected to the Hambalang case. One of these offices is the Youth and Sports Ministry, which the KPK raided on Thursday. (png)