TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is probing Golkar politician Chairun Nisa, a former lawmaker of the House of Representatives’ Commission II overseeing governance and regional autonomy, in a graft case centering on the Religious Affairs Ministry’s crooked hajj pilgrimage in 2012-2013.
“Chairun Nisa becomes a witness for graft suspect SDA (former religious minister Suryadharma Ali),” said KPK chief of news and publication Priharsa Nugraha on Thursday, March 26, 2015.
Chairun Nisa is presently behind bars after being sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rp100 million, with a subsidiary sentence of three months in prison for bribing ex-Constitutional Court (MK) chief justice Akil Mochtar in a case of a regional election dispute in Gunung Mas regency tried at the Constitutional Court.
Chairun Nisa is also a former lawmaker of the House’s Commission VIII overseeing religious and social affairs—including hajj.
The Indonesian graft busters suspected there had been violations in the implementation of the 2012-2013 pilgrimage, whose total funds reached Rp1 trillion—from transport to accommodations.
Suryadharma had allegedly taken his relatives and a string of other people from his ministry and the House to join the religious trip when he should have prioritized would-be pilgrims who had been waiting in line for years.
Suryadharma, however, has filed a pretrial motion against his naming as a graft suspect and failed to meet the KPK’s summonses twice for questioning as a suspect. His pretrial hearing is slated for March 30 with presiding judge Tati.
ANTARA