Novianti Setuningsih, Ezra Sihite, Rizky Amelia, Robertus Wardi & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Indications are growing stronger that senior officials at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry may be implicated in a massive corruption case that has felled the head of the national oil regulator, following the seizure of $200,000 in cash from the office of the ministry's secretary general, Waryono Karyo.
Bambang Widjojanto, a deputy chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), said on Sunday that the discovery of the money in Waryono's office lent further support to the notion that Rudi Rubiandini, the head of SKKMigas, the upstream oil and gas regulator, was not acting alone when he was arrested at his home last Tuesday while allegedly taking a $400,000 bribe from a representative of the company Kernel Oil.
"We're not at the point yet where we can state that certain people are involved, but we're searching for the evidence," Bambang said. He added that the KPK planned to grill everyone who could shed light on the case, including Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik.
Busyro Muqoddas, another KPK deputy chairman, said on Saturday that given the scale of the bribery and the fact that the contract that Kernel was allegedly angling for was to be administered by the ministry and not the regulator, it was highly probable that Rudi was not at the top of the chain.
"That's because of the systemic nature of corruption," he said. "If this case goes to the very top, the very highest leader [Jero], then it will be the KPK's duty to call in that leader for questioning," he said.
Marathon search
Cash worth $200,000 was discovered in Waryono's office during a marathon and simultaneous search of the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry building, the SKKMigas building, and the office of Kernel Oil.
KPK spokesman Johan Budi said in addition to the money from Waryono's office, investigators also found nearly $50,000 in foreign currency and 180 grams of gold in Rudi's office. From his safe deposit box at Bank Mandiri, they seized an additional $350,000 in cash.
KPK investigators had previously confiscated $200,000 and S$127,000 ($100,000) in cash from Rudi's house, in addition to the $400,000 alleged bribe delivered by Rudi's golf instructor, Deviardi.
Deviardi and Simon Tanjaya, a representative for Singapore-based Kernel Oil, were also arrested along with Rudi. All three have been charged on various counts of corruption.
Waryono could not be reached for comment about the money found in his office, while Jero claimed he knew nothing about it.
"I don't know what the money was for, because it was in the secretary general's room. I haven't met him yet to ask him," the minister said on Saturday.
Jero, a senior Democratic Party official who also serves as the chairman of the SKKMigas supervisory committee, said there was no way he could have known about that much money being kept in his own office building.
"I don't go around checking everyone's room. There are 90 or so rooms in my building," he said.
He also denied any involvement in the corruption scandal, saying that although he was prepared to be interrogated by the KPK, he had a clear conscience.
"I feel clear because I've never given any orders to my subordinates to do anything untoward," he said. "I've been a minister for nine years, and I've never ordered anything fishy."
Political links
Jero has been the subject of much speculation since Rudi's arrest, with suspicions arising that the money collected by the SKKMigas chief was meant to be channeled to the Democratic Party to fund its upcoming congress to select a candidate for next year's presidential election.
Speculation has also arisen that Deviardi is a Democratic Party member with close ties to Achsanul Kosasih, a member of the party's central leadership board, and that he was picked as the middleman in the bribery transaction precisely because of his party affiliation.
However, both Jero and the party have denied any connection between the Democrats, who are already reeling from a litany of corruption cases implicating other senior members, and the new scandal.
"There's absolutely no link," Syarif Hasan, the party's managing chairman, said on Saturday. "We have our own treasurer for the convention, so there's no connection there."
He also denied that Deviardi was a Democrat, saying that because the party had such a large support base, anyone could claim to be a member.
However, Achsanul acknowledged being acquainted with Deviardi, although he also denied that the latter was a card-carrying member of the party.
"My wife and his wife are related, but as far as I know he's not involved in the running of the party. We never discussed party matters when we met in the past," he said.
He claimed that any attempt to link the SKKMigas case to the Democrats was just a malicious bid to tarnish the party's image.
Ruhut Sitompul, an outspoken Democrat legislator, has also come out in support of Jero – but indicated that there could be reason for doubting the minister's claims of innocence.
He hinted that if Jero was to be implicated in the corruption case, it should not reflect on the party or the decision by its chairman, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to appoint him as the energy and mineral resources minister.
"Jero was trusted with the energy portfolio because he's clean. But he shouldn't steal from the state," Ruhut said.
Bambang Soesatyo, a legislator from the Golkar Party, called for a thorough investigation into all the officials with any connection to the SKKMigas case. "Of course the investigation has to be directed toward those higher up, because these rotten deals are made at the top," he said on Sunday.
He added it was inconceivable that Rudi, a lifelong academic who only joined the government a few years ago, was the mastermind behind the recently uncovered bribery case.
"That explains why the KPK, acting on testimony from Rudi, went on to search [Waryono's] office and found $200,000 in his desk drawer," Bambang said.