The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) charged Constitutional Court chief justice Akil Mochtar with allegedly accepting a bribe to fix the court's ruling on a contested election on Thursday in the latest high-profile corruption case to implicate the head of one of the nation's most powerful institutions.
"This is related to the Gunung Mas election," KPK chief Abraham Samad said in a press conference on Thursday. "A.M. and C.N. have been named suspects as recipients [of the bribes]."
Golkar Party lawmaker Chairun Nisa, who was detained in a raid on Akil's South Jakarta home, was also named a suspect in the case. Antigraft investigators seized a bag containing up to Rp Rp 3 billion ($261,000) in Singapore and US bank notes and a white Toyota Fortuner from the scene.
Both men stand accused of accepting bribes to rig Indonesia's democratic process, selling off the authority of the Constitutional Court to fix the ruling on an incumbent candidate pair's contested victory in an election in Gunung Mas district, Central Kalimantan rife with accusations of voter fraud.
Four others were also charged in the investigation, a businessman named Cornelis, Gunung Mas district head Hambit Bintih, Tubagus Chaeri Wardhana and a woman identified as Susi, Abraham said.
Akil's arrest followed the detention in August of the country's chief energy regulator Rudi Rubiandini and comes after several members of the president's Democratic Party were caught up in corruption scandals.
However, Akil is a former Golkar Party member. Golkar is in the current ruling coalition but seen as one of the main opponents to Yudhoyono's party at upcoming elections.
Rudi, head of upstream oil and gas regulator SKK Migas, was detained at his Jakarta home for allegedly accepting more than $600,000 in bribes.
In the past year, the president's party has been hit by a flood of corruption scandals that analysts say have seriously undermined the party's prospects at elections in 2014.
The party's chairman, treasurer and sports minister have all been caught up in graft scandals – an embarrassment for Yudhoyono as he won a second term in 2009 partly on a pledge to fight corruption.
The KPK has been granted extraordinary powers to investigate the rich and powerful in Indonesia, including wiretapping suspects and probing bank accounts. But they face an uphill battle in a nation ranked 118th out of 176 in Transparency International's list of least corrupt countries.
They have enjoyed some notable successes however, such as the jailing earlier this month of the former traffic police chief for 10 years after he built up an $18 million empire by accepting enormous bribes.
Djoko Susilo reportedly earned a humble police salary of $1,000 a month – but the country's antigraft agency seized assets from him, including houses, cars and even gas kiosks, worth 200 billion rupiah (around $18 million). (JG/AFP)