Jakarta – The military police have named an ex-Air Force officer as a suspect in a graft case related to the procurement of a VIP helicopter from Italian-British manufacturing company Agusta Westland.
"We have named former Air Force chief of staff planning assistant, identified only as SB, a new suspect on the case," military police commander Maj. Gen. Dodik Wijanarko said on Friday, as quoted by kompas.com.
He claimed SB was responsible for ordering his subordinates to continue the project despite President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's instruction to cancel the purchase of the VIP helicopter. The suspect could be charged with insubordination, misuse of authority and embezzlement.
SB is the fourth suspect to be named by the military police. Three Air Force personnel were named suspects in May, including the deputy governor of the Air Force Academy and the Air Force commander of operations I. The embezzlement reportedly caused Rp 224 billion (US$16 million) in state losses.