"Two names were reported earlier, while the other five were reported in the minister`s second letter (on November 12). Later, in a third letter, the list was revised again," Ethics Council (BK) Head Muhammad Prakosa said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The House of Representatives` Ethics Council on Wednesday summoned State-owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan in connection with his revised report that named five legislators allegedly involved in extortion of state-owned enterprises.

"We have summoned Dahlan for clarification on the revision of legislators` names listed in his report," Ethics Council (BK) head Muhammad Prakosa said here on Wednesday.

On November 7, the minister had submitted to the Ethics Council a report containing the names of legislators who were allegedly involved in extortion.

"Two names were reported earlier, while the other five were reported in the minister`s second letter (on November 12). Later, in a third letter, the list was revised again," Prakosa explained.

On Tuesday this week, the Council summoned the directors of three state-owned enterprises -- PT PAL Indonesia, PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines, and PT Garam -- for explanation on the alleged extortion of state-owned enterprises by DPR members.

"The directors confirmed that some lawmakers had asked for `fees' in return for disbursement of state capital to their companies," Prakosa stated.

"They did not have written documents as evidence but had received a lot of text messages and calls on their cell phones," he continued.

Prakosa pointed out that the text messages and phone calls were not only sent to those summoned by the council, but also to other directors, especially president directors and finance directors.

Asked about the amount of so-called fees the lawmakers had demanded, he said: "Between one and five percent, from what the directors said".

According to official data, Rp648.33 billion and Rp561 billion were allocated to PT PAL and PT Merpati, respectively, from the 2012 state budget.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012