SP/Novianti Setuningsih, Jakarta – Indonesia's antigraft commission said on Friday that the Ministry of Home Affairs could resurrect an electronic identity card project even though the state had lost tens of millions of dollars to corruption in the scheme.
"As long as the Ministry of Home Affairs believes that the project should continue," Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) spokesman Johan Budi said. "The KPK has no right to reject or approve a project."
Johan said the KPK would continue to investigate the project, which it says has relieved the Indonesian taxpayer of Rp 1.12 trillion ($92 million) in corruption to date.
The e-KTP procurement was originally projected to cost Rp 5.8 trillion and confer a major technological upgrade on the country's identity card system. It was intended to offer more efficient applications and better, more secure data.
The project was mothballed, however, and many high-profile lawmakers were directly accused of having taken $500,000 bribes. Graft convict and former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin accused the previous home affairs minister, Gamawan Fauzi, of having taken a kickback. While the man in charge of the tender between 2011-12 – Sugiharto – has also been named a suspect by the KPK.
Despite its past troubles, the new Minister of Home Affairs, Tjahjo Kumolo, believes the project could be rehabilitated. "So we are not halting the e-KTP project but we are evaluating it because there's a legal problem, so let's investigate to find out the core of the problem," Tjahjo said.
Antigraft activists have urged the KPK to prioritize the investigation of the e-KTP project, which they see as particularly egregious given the size of the bribes alleged to be involved and the paucity of formal charges issued.
Uchok Sky Khadafi, the investigations director of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra), expressed surprise that the KPK had managed to net so few suspects after it had been investigating the project for some time.
"The KPK must find new suspects from the consortium of companies or from the ministry," he said. "So far there has been only one suspect and he has been sacrificed to take fall."
Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/govt-looks-resurrect-e-ktp-project-despite-history-graft/