KPK Spokesman Johan Budi here Wednesday said Minister Hatta was summoned as a witness in a case involving Soemino Eko Saputro, former railway director general of the transportation ministry, who has been named a suspect by KPK.
The electric train grant project from Japan took place in 2006 when Hatta was still holding the transportation minister`s post before he was succeeded by Jusman Syafii Djamal.
The project was worth Rp48 billion. KPK has estimated that the state loss due to the markup of the transportation cost was around Rp11 billion.
The cost of transporting the electric train from Japan to Indonesia reached nine million Yen.
Soemino has been named a suspect by KPK since 2009, but he was arrested in March 2011. He is now being detained at Cipinang prison, east Jakarta.
His lawyer, Tumpal Hutabarat earlier said the procurement of electric train had been carried out at the instruction of Hatta when he was the transportation minister.
When Indonesia needed electric trains, Hatta asked Soemino to go to Japan for a survey. Soemino reported the result of his survey to Hatta who later agreed to follow up the procurement. (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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