KPK Questions Acting Batu Mayor About Bribery Scandal Embroiling Predecessor
Jakarta. The Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, questioned acting Batu Mayor Punjul Santoso on Monday (23/10) at the agency's office in Jakarta related to a bribery case surrounding former Mayor Eddy Rumpoko.
Eddy, former mayor of East Java's Batu, was nabbed in a sting operation by the KPK in September and was accused of receiving bribes from businessman Filipus Djap worth Rp 500 million ($36,900) from the city's procurement project for furniture in 2017. The project was estimated to have cost a total Rp 5.26 billion.
KPK accused Eddy to award Filipus's company to receive the tender for the project, while also naming Edi Setiawan, head of the city's procurement and Eddy's subordinate, as a suspect in the case.
Punjul, previously Eddy's vice mayor, answered KPK's summons earlier on Monday morning and left the building later that evening.
"I answered 12 questions," Punjul told reporters when he emerged from KPK's office.
"My job as vice mayor was to help the mayor," he said.
Eddy would have finished his duty as mayor of Batu in December and will be succeeded by his wife Dewanti Rumpoko, who won the mayoral election held earlier this year with Punjul.
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