KPK Hopes Graft Probe Will Not Disrupt e-KTP Issuance
Jakarta. The national antigraft agency has expressed hope that the issuance of electronic identity cards, or e-KTP, will continue without disruption despite an ongoing high-profile corruption investigation.
The state suffered Rp 6.7 trillion ($501 million) in losses from the mothballed project in the 2011-2012 budgeting period.
"Despite the ongoing process in the e-KTP case, we hope that all public services related to the issuance of the ID cards will not be disrupted," Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) spokesman Febri Diansyah said in Jakarta on Monday (13/03).
"It is not only on the issuance or printing of the e-KTP, but more importantly, how the single database system would be constituted," Febri added.
Aside from the ongoing investigation, the spokesman said the KPK is also implementing preventative measures.
"We have coordinated with the directorate general on what can be done in future to improve public services related to the e-KTP," Febri said.
Zudan Arif Fakrulloh, director general of citizenship and civil records at the Ministry of Home Affairs, visited the offices of the KPK on Friday last week to discuss the e-KTP program.
The two institutions have long discussed the use of e-KTP and citizenship identification numbers (NIK) to create a single identity number for every citizen.
"This citizenship data can be used optimally, for example in subsidies, rice distribution to the poor, agricultural subsidies and health services," Zudan said on Friday.
The KPK will soon reveal the names of individuals allegedly implicated in the case. Two suspects have already been named – Sugiharto and Irman, both former information management heads at the directorate general of citizenship and civil records at the Home Affairs Ministry.
The antigraft agency summoned Justice and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly last month for questioning as a witness in the case.
The KPK has also questioned House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto.
Graft convict and former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin alleges that Setya and former party chairman Anas Urbaningrum were the masterminds behind the e-KTP graft.
The e-KTP project, which was supposed to provide biometric ID cards for all Indonesians aged 17 years and older, was mothballed in October 2015 following a series of problems, including a late start, technical glitches and officials demanding payments from residents to provide the ostensibly free service.
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