Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) revealed that 10 suspects were being investigated in the case of alleged corruption of the Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Ministry's staff work performance bonus in 2020 to 2022.

"The number (of suspects) is probably 10, yes," director of investigation at the KPK Asep Guntur remarked here on Thursday.

KPK investigators have also checked the suspects' homes to search for and collect pieces of evidence, he noted.

"They give away the work performance bonus under the pretense of typo. For example, if the work performance bonus is Rp5 million (US$332), what was given is Rp50 million (US$3,319). When they were caught, (they claimed) that it was a typo, but the Rp50 million was already sent," he explained.

Guntur stated that the investigators are currently tracking the whereabouts of the corruption money.

"We use the 'follow the money' method, and we track where the money is going," he remarked.

Some locations inspected by the commission during the investigation included the directorate general of mineral and coal office in Tebet, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry's office on Medan Merdeka Selatan Street, suspects' homes in Depok, and Pakubuwono Apartment in Central Jakarta, he revealed.

During their inspection of Pakubuwono Apartment, the investigators found a stash of cash, with total value of Rp1.3 billion (US$86,304).

Guntur remarked that the investigators are still conducting further investigation regarding the apartment and the cash since they do not immediately rule it out as the money from this particular case.

"We probe it too to see whether it is related or not. The key is indeed here, but we have no idea of who legally owns it. It could be there as a trap for all we know," he remarked.

On a separate occasion, head of news at the KPK Ali Fikri stated that the investigators had identified the suspects of the alleged corruption case and revealed that more than one suspect was involved.

However, the commission had yet to disclose the names of the suspects to the public.

Fikri stated that the list of suspects and details on criminal charges will be notified to the public after the team collected all the relevant pieces of evidence.

The corruption case could potentially cost billions of rupiah in losses.


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Translator: Fianda Sjofjan Rassat, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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