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Two former high-ranking public officials were arrested on Thursday for corruption cases that cost the state a combined Rp 48 billion ($5.4 million).

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested former Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah and former Health Ministry secretary general Sjafii Ahmad for embezzling state funds and violating standard procurement rules.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi said both officials were charged with violating the 1999 Corruption Law, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and steep fines.

Bachtiar was named a suspect in February for allegedly violating regulations in the procurement of cattle, sewing machines and sarongs, which caused total state losses of Rp 39.1 billion.

He was arrested after being questioned for seven hours by the KPK. He claimed the sarongs did not fall under the procurement rules because they were donated for the Social Affairs Ministry’s disaster relief projects.

Bachtiar, from the United Development Party (PPP), claimed that former ministry director general Amrun Daulay, from the Democratic Party, was partly to blame for the controversy.

Other officials implicated in the graft case include Dinar Semesta director Cep Ruhayat, Lahindo director Mustar Azis and Atmadhira Karya director Iken Nasution — whose companies served as ministry-appointed contractors for the projects.

Iken died in May, a month after being named a suspect.

Meanwhile, Sjafii was arrested after a four-hour interrogation over his role in the Rp 9 billion markup of a 2007 project to procure health equipment.

Sjafii is alleged to have taken Rp 750 million in kickbacks from state-owned procurement contractor Kimia Farma Trading in exchange for appointing the company to provide portable X-ray machines, bypassing the mandatory tender process.

Kimia Farma is believed to have marked up the machines’ price by as much as 300 percent of their retail price, the KPK says.

The antigraft commission had previously named three other suspects in the Health Ministry corruption case, including director for health Edi Suranto, former planning bureau chief Mardiono and Kimia Farma commissioner Budiarto Maliang.

In April, Mardiono was sentenced by the Anti-Corruption Court to two years in prison for his role in the case.

Budiarto is currently standing trial before the same court. On Tuesday, prosecutors from the KPK sought an eight-year prison sentence for him.

Edi, meanwhile, is still waiting for court proceedings.

Former Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari was scheduled to testify as a witness in the case on Thursday, but failed to appear because she was busy.

Johan said her planned interrogation had been rescheduled for another day.