TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The National Police's (Polri) Criminal Investigation Unit has so far questioned 24 witnesses in relation to the suspected corruption in the procurement of 10 mobile crane units by PT Pelindo II. "We have examined 24 individuals as witnesses," said the Head of Polri's Criminal Investigation Unit, Comr. Gen. Anang Iskandar to the press in Jakarta on Wednesday, September 16, 2015.
The case is known to have surfaced when officials from the Criminal Investigation Unit raided PT Pelindo's office in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, wherein scores of police officials from the unit, aided by Jakarta Police and Tanjung Priok Police officials, took some documents as evidences.
It is known that PT Pelindo II placed an order for 10 cranes worth Rp45 billion in 2012, with partial funding from the State Budget. The cranes - which were earmarked for Bengkulu, Jambi, Teluk Bayur, Cirebon, Banten, Panjang, and Pontianak - were never dispatched. In fact, further investigation revealed that the aforementioned ports did not even need new cranes to operate.
Investigators have so far named one suspect in the case, namely PT Pelindo II Technical Operations Director, Ferialdy Nurlan. In response, Commission III of the House of Representatives (DPR), plans to form a special task force to get to the bottom of the case.
Several legislators have also suspected that the demotion of former-Chief of Polri's Criminal Investigation Unit Comr. Gen. Budi Waseso, is driven by powerful actors who fear that he was coming too close to figuring out their involvement in Pelindo's case.
ANTARANEWS
