Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has issued a decree banning six people who are under investigation in relation to a corruption case at state-owned telecommunications firm PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) from traveling abroad.
KPK spokesman Tessa Mahardhika said on Wednesday that the travel ban was issued on Wednesday, tempo.co reported. He said the six were named suspects on Jan. 30.
They are Siti Choirina, former executive vice president of the Enterprise Service Division (DES) at Telkom; Paruhum Natigor Sitorus, former director of PT Infrastruktur Telkom/Telkom Infra; Tan Heng Lok, owner of PT Telemedia Onyx Pratama; Natalia Gozali, operations director at PT Mitra Buana Komputindo; Victor Antonio Kohar, director at PT Asiatel Globalindo; and Fery Tan, director at PT Erakomp Infonusa.
Tessa said the travel ban was related to an investigation into alleged corruption in information technology (IT) procurement at PT Telkom from 2017 to 2018.
The case involved the procurement of Samsung Tab S3 tablets, all-in-one computers and IT hardware, with state losses estimated in the billions of rupiah.
KPK vice chairman Alexander Marwata said the figure for state losses from the PT Telkom corruption case could increase as the investigation proceeded.
"The losses are above Rp 100 billion [US$6.27 million]," Alexander said, as quoted by tempo.co.
The KPK announced on May 21 the start of its investigation into the alleged procurement of fictitious goods and services at Telkom Group.
On May 27, the KPK requested the travel ban from the Immigration Directorate General for the PT Telkom corruption investigation.
In April, the KPK searched six residences and four offices in relation to the investigation, including Telkom Hub and Telkom Landmark Tower.
Investigators seized and analyzed documents and electronic devices related to the case.
In a separate case, the KPK is investigating Telkom in relation to the financing of a data center project at PT Sigma Cipta Caraka (SCC), one of its subsidiaries.