KPK`s Search of Fisheries Ministry Related to Ships Purchase

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) searched the offices of the Marine and Fisheries Resources Surveillance Directorate General at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry in Jakarta on Thursday, in connection with the procurement of surveillance ships to combat illegal fishing.

The search is related to the purchase of four ships in 2013 to strengthen the fleet of surveillance ships, acting Director General of Marine and Fisheries Resources Surveillance Agus Suherman said in a press statement released on Saturday.

"The four ships have been functioning and operating well to control illegal fishing in Indonesian waters, and have contributed to the seizure of Vietnamese-flagged fishing boats in the Natuna Sea and Philippine-flagged fishing boats in Sulawesi Sea," he said.

The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry is one of the agencies fully supporting corruption eradication efforts. To that end, the maritime affairs and fisheries minister issued regulation number 27 of 2014 concerning technical guides to control graft at the ministry.

Suherman said the Marine and Fisheries Resources Surveillance Directorate General is waiting for the conclusions of KPK's investigation.

KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah said at the KPK Building in Jakarta on Friday that he has just been informed that a team of investigators searched one of the echelon I units at the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry on Thursday.

"The search is part of the investigation we are conducting," he said.

During the search, KPK confiscated documents related to the procurement of ships and electronic evidence.

In a related development, the anti-graft body also searched the office of PT Daya Radar Utama (DRU) located in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, on Friday.

PT DRU is engaged in the shipbuilding industry.

"When I checked with the team in the field, they were in the process of searching (the office). They seized documents related to the procurement or purchase of a ship," he said.

However, the KPK spokesman stopped short of disclosing more about the case that prompted the anti-graft body to search the two offices.

"Now that the team is still in the field, we cannot reveal more information about the case or who the suspect is. We will announce all this in the next few days, after a series of preliminary activities in the field have been completed," he said.

ANTARA