REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has arrested Mesuji District Head Khamami on Wednesday night. He was allegedly received unlawful payments for infrastructure projects in the district, the anti-graft body's spokesman stated.
"During the raid, the anti-graft body's investigators seized a cardboard box filled with banknotes of Rp100 thousand denomination," KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah informed journalists here on early Thursday.
The money inside the cardboard box was estimated to reach around Rp1 billion, he said. The KPK investigators did not just apprehend Khamami but also several other figures from three different locations in Lampung Province.
The money might be part of the fees for last year's infrastructure projects of the Mesuji Public Works and People's Housing Office, he remarked. Khamami being taken into custody marks the first arrest for the anti-graft body in this year.
Corruption crimes involving regional leaders remain a serious problem in Indonesia. In April 2018, Chief of the Task Force of Prevention Coordination and Supervision of KPK Asep Rahmat Suwandha revealed that 93 regional leaders, including 18 governors and 75 district heads and city mayors, had been named suspects in corruption.
Several of them had also been tried and convicted, Suwandha stated, adding that 12 of the 93 regional leaders, who had been implicated in corruption last year, were from West Java Province. Hence, West Java had the largest number of heads of district administration named corruption suspects by the KPK among 34 provinces of the country, he noted.
President Joko Widodo has issued a stern warning to regional leaders to not violate the law, including getting involved in corruption crimes.
"I warn all, including governors, district heads, mayors, and other civil servants, to not violate the law," the president remarked after the KPK arrested Jambi Governor Zumi Zola on graft charges last year.
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