IO, Jakarta – Minister of Trade Enggartiasto Lukita failed to show up three times in response to a summons from KPK, as a witness in the alleged bribery and gratification of Bowo Sidik Pangarso. KPK is also investigating the implications of the Ministry of Trade (Kemendag) in honestly supporting the eradication of corruption.
“We also question the commitment of the Ministry of Trade in supporting of the eradication of corruption because witnesses did not appear when they were summoned. Besides the Minister of Trade, there were also other officials from his Ministry,” said the head of the KPK public relations bureau, Febri Diansyah to reporters on Thursday (7/18/2019).
Febri did not detail which other Ministry of Trade officials he was referring to. However, the KPK did summon a number of Ministry of Trade officials or refined sugar auction committees as witnesses, such as the Chairman of the Refined Crystal Sugar Auction Procurement Committee, Subagyo; the Secretary of the Procurement of Refined Crystal Sugar Auctions, Noviarina Purnami; the Head of the Ministry of Trade’s Public Market Development Section, Husodo Kuncoro Yakti and The Ministry of Trade’s Director General of Foreign Trade, Oke Nurwan.
The parties summoned by KPK were indeed absent. The KPK has rescheduled the summons for which several of them have been interrogated. “There should be no impressions to the public that there are officials avoiding legal proceedings for various reasons. We hope that this does not happen the way it appears to develop,” Febri said.
Regarding Enggartiasto, Febri said the KPK summoned him to clarify the alleged gratification to Bowo. The KPK investigator, said Febri, want to ascertain whether Enggartiasto knows about the alleged gratification to Bowo or not.
“The question is also intended to allow the Minister room to explain to investigators whether it is true that he has ever given bribes directly or indirectly or does not know anything about the incident. So, the KPK sees that it has provided enough space for the Minister of Trade to deliver truthful testimony,” he said.
Enggartiasto was previously summoned on July 2, 2019, but he failed to appear, so the question was rescheduled for July 8, when he did not show his face; Enggartiasto was again absent so the inspection was rescheduled for July 18.
“Last night we got another letter telling us that he has a sudden need to go abroad today,” Febri said.
The KPK is still discussing what further steps will be taken regarding the absence of Enggartiasto. Febri hasn’t mentioned whether Enggartiasto will be summoned again or not.
Earlier, Bowo Sidik, who was a member of the House of Representatives Commission VI from the Golkar faction, had been named by the KPK as a suspect in the case of alleged bribery and gratuity by allegedly receiving money from Asty Winasti, Marketing Manager of PT Humpuss Transportasi Kimia (HTK) through Indung. Asty and Indung have also been named suspects.
KPK suspects Bowo received a bribe of around Rp1.6 billion from Asty. The money was allegedly given so that Bowo would help PT HTK get an agreement to use its vessels for fertilizer distribution from PT Pupuk Indonesia Logistik.
In addition to accepting bribes, Bowo allegedly received gratuities of around Rp6.5 billion. Regarding this alleged gratification, the KPK has searched the office of Minister of Trade Enggartiasto and confiscated a number of documents, including documents related to the Minister of Trade Regulation concerning refined sugar. (dsy)