KPK Questions Senior Golkar Politician Aburizal Bakrie in e-KTP Graft Probe
Jakarta. Antigraft investigators pressed ahead on Thursday (16/11) with their probe into a massive graft case related to the procurement of national electronic identity cards, or e-KTP, this time questioning senior Golkar Party politician Aburizal Bakrie.
Aburizal was questioned as a witness against House of Representatives speaker and Golkar chairman Setya Novanto, who was renamed a suspect in the case last week.
Setya was nowhere to be found at his home in South Jakarta late on Wednesday night when Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators knocked on his doors to arrest him.
Aburizal, walking out of the KPK headquarters after hours of interrogation, said he did not know Setya's whereabouts and claimed he had not been in contact with his party's chairman.
"I can't remember the last time [I saw him]. It was a long time ago," the Golkar advisory board chief and former chairman told reporters.
The House Speaker failed to attend his first questioning as a suspect in the graft case on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, he appeared at a House plenary meeting and hinted at reporters he would not attend KPK questioning anytime soon.
Setya stands accused of allegedly siphoning off Rp 574 billion ($42 million) from the Rp 5.9 trillion e-KTP project, which resulted in a total of Rp 2.3 trillion in state losses.
KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah, referring to Aburizal's interrogation, told reporters: "We're digging deeper into conversations within Golkar during that time."
Febri refused to answer when asked if money from the project had flowed into the party.
Aburizal, meanwhile, stopped short of mentioning Setya by name, merely saying "the questioning was about a Golkar chairman's duties and obligations."
Setya was first named as a suspect in the case in July but acquitted of all charges two months later by the South Jakarta district court in a pretrial lawsuit.
The ruling meant Setya was no longer a suspect in the case.
Setya has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and failed many times to attend KPK questioning when he was summoned as a witness or as a suspect.
Febri said on Wednesday night KPK was considering to put Setya on a police wanted list.
The House speaker could face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.
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