Former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum has denied an accusation by his former treasurer and business partner, Muhammad Nazaruddin, that he pocketed almost $1 billion in kickbacks

January 19, 2014 Leave a comment

Nazaruddin Levels $1 Billion Kickback Accusation at Anas

By Novianti Setuningsih & Markus Junianto Sihaloho on 11:11 am January 18, 2014.
Former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum has denied an accusation by his former treasurer and business partner, Muhammad Nazaruddin, that he pocketed almost $1 billion in kickbacks for allegedly rigging a combined Rp 64 trillion ($5.31 billion) worth of government contracts.

Speaking to reporters following his questioning on Friday at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) office in South Jakarta, Anas said the money went into “Nazaruddin’s own pocket.”He said the string of shell companies that Nazaruddin had on Thursday accused him of using to win government contracts and farm them out for a profit were all listed in Nazaruddin’s name, not his.

Nazaruddin, who was convicted of bid-rigging in 2012 and sentenced to seven years in jail, said it was “a fact” that Anas had managed to take charge of dozens of lucrative government contracts worth a total of Rp 64 trillion, for which he received kickbacks amounting to Rp 12 trillion.

He said they included the contract for the construction of a sports center in Hambalang, Bogor, worth Rp 2.5 trillion; a project to issue electronic identity cards, or e-KTP, to all Indonesians above the age of 17, worth Rp 5.9 trillion; and a project to build emergency facilities to develop a bird flu vaccine, worth Rp 2.3 trillion.

Anas was named a suspect last February in the Hambalang case and detained by the KPK earlier this month.

Nazaruddin said on Thursday that all the details were listed in a ledger seized from Anas’s house by KPK investigators.

He called on Anas to follow his example and reveal all he knew about other corruption cases and those involved in them. Nazaruddin’s own litany of allegations has seen Democrat legislator Angelina Sondakh convicted and jailed in a separate bid-rigging case, and Anas and Andi Mallarangeng, the former sports minister, detained and awaiting trial in the Hamabalang case.

Anas, following his arrest on Jan. 3, issued an ominous message of thanks to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who in March last year ousted him from the party after he was named a suspect.

Observers say this, combined with Nazaruddin’s own carefully worded hints, suggest the pair may level graft allegations against Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, the president’s son and secretary general of the Democratic Party.

Asked on Thursday whether he had anything to say about Edhie, Nazaruddin remained typically guarded, saying he would “explain everything” if Yusril Ihza Mahendra, a former justice minister and widely considered one of Indonesia’s top lawyers, took on his case.

Yusril said on Friday that he was open to the idea, adding that Nazaruddin had written him a letter two weeks earlier outlining his intention to blow the lid on a number of corruption cases.

“I have duty to help anyone who wants to reveal a crime, especially corruption,” he said.

“But only as long as they have proof to back up their claims, and aren’t just engaging in slander.”

Filed under Macro Trends

Unknown's avatarAbout bambooinnovator
Kee Koon Boon (“KB”) is the co-founder and director of HERO Investment Management which provides specialized fund management and investment advisory services to the ARCHEA Asia HERO Innovators Fund (www.heroinnovator.com), the only Asian SMID-cap tech-focused fund in the industry. KB is an internationally featured investor rooted in the principles of value investing for over a decade as a fund manager and analyst in the Asian capital markets who started his career at a boutique hedge fund in Singapore where he was with the firm since 2002 and was also part of the core investment committee in significantly outperforming the index in the 10-year-plus-old flagship Asian fund. He was also the portfolio manager for Asia-Pacific equities at Korea’s largest mutual fund company. Prior to setting up the H.E.R.O. Innovators Fund, KB was the Chief Investment Officer & CEO of a Singapore Registered Fund Management Company (RFMC) where he is responsible for listed Asian equity investments. KB had taught accounting at the Singapore Management University (SMU) as a faculty member and also pioneered the 15-week course on Accounting Fraud in Asia as an official module at SMU. KB remains grateful and honored to be invited by Singapore’s financial regulator Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to present to their top management team about implementing a world’s first fact-based forward-looking fraud detection framework to bring about benefits for the capital markets in Singapore and for the public and investment community. KB also served the community in sharing his insights in writing articles about value investing and corporate governance in the media that include Business Times, Straits Times, Jakarta Post, Manual of Ideas, Investopedia, TedXWallStreet. He had also presented in top investment, banking and finance conferences in America, Italy, Sydney, Cape Town, HK, China. He has trained CEOs, entrepreneurs, CFOs, management executives in business strategy & business model innovation in Singapore, HK and China.

Leave a comment