Welcome Guest   |  Login   |   Signup
JG Logo
Fri, May 25, 2012
Archive Search

Manpower Minister Ready to Testify in Graft Trials: Staffer
Rizky Amelia | February 05, 2012

Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar. (Antara Photo) Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar. (Antara Photo)
Share This Page
0
4
0
0
Share with google+ :


Post a comment
Please login to post comment

Comments

Be the first to write your opinion!

The pressure is mounting on Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar, who is expected to be called as a witness in the corruption trials of two of his subordinates accused of rigging allocations of ministry-managed development funds.

The minister, whose name has cropped up numerous times in recent hearings, is reportedly prepared for the inevitable order to appear before the court.

“Yes, of course, if he is called to give evidence, he will honor the summons. He’s ready,” said an expert staffer at the ministry, Dita Indah Sari. 

The ex-labor activist said, however, that the minister was yet to receive an official summons. 

“I don’t know when it will be, there hasn’t been a letter yet [from prosecutors],” Dita said in Jakarta on Saturday.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has previously stated that Muhaimin will be called upon to contribute to corruption court proceedings, and his name is mentioned in the indictments of senior ministry staff I Nyoman Suisnaya and Dadong Irbarelawan, and a director of Alam Jaya Papua company, Dharnawati.

Speaking in defense of her boss, Dita said that it was only natural that Muhaimin’s name would come up in a case connected to the ministry he heads up, and that people should not jump to conclusions.

“There are many people who like to drop the minister’s name,” she said.

Muhaimin has publicly refuted allegations that he received a share of Rp 2 billion ($224,000) paid by Dharnawati to I Nyoman Suisnaya and Dadong Irbarelawan in exchange for including four Papuan districts in a list of areas to receive support from the Fund for the Acceleration of Infrastructure Development in Transmigration Areas (DPPIDT).

Dharnawati was convicted on Jan. 30 after the corruption court found she had indeed been caught red-handed providing the cash bribe, which was delivered in a fruit box, but there was no finding on the question of whether the minister was intended to receive a share.

As far as Dita is concerned, there is no doubt as to the chairman of the National Awakening Party’s (PKB) innocence. “The minister was not involved,” she said.