KPK Slaps Travel Ban on Ex-Forestry Minister Over Alleged Bribery

Jakarta Globe, Rizky Amelia,  February 11, 2014

Former forestry minister M. S. Kaban has been issued a travel ban by the
Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). (SP Photo)

Jakarta. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has slapped a travel ban on former Forestry Minister M.S. Kaban in connection to a bribery case involving the ministry following the recent arrest of high-profile graft fugitive Anggoro Widjojo in China.

“Today, the KPK sent a letter to the immigration office requesting a [travel] ban for M.S. Kaban,” KPK spokesman Johan Budi said in Jakarta on Tuesday. “He’s a former forestry minister.”

Johan said the travel ban would be in place for the next six months. Kaban was questioned as a witness in a bribery case surrounding a graft-ridden procurement of an Integrated Radio Communication System (SKRT) for the Ministry of Forestry in 2007.

Anggoro, a director and owner of Masaro Radiokom, was named a suspect in the case in 2009 as he allegedly bribed lawmakers to allow the radio communication firm to renew its contract for the SKRT procurement for the ministry in 2007, although a similar project — also involving Masaro — had been earlier halted in 2004.

This occurred during Kaban’s term in office, which was between 2004 and 2009. Kaban, now chairman of the Crescent Star Party (PBB), reportedly endorsed the direct appointment of Masaro for the project.

Johan said the KPK also slapped a travel ban on M. Yusuf, Kaban’s one-time driver.

The Masaro case reemerged after Anggoro, who was at the center of the 2009 rivalry between KPK and the National Police, was arrested last month at an immigration checkpoint in the Chinese city of Shenzen. He fled Indonesia in 2008, before he was named a suspect.