Governor of Riau Islands Arrested for Allegedly Accepting Bribes

KOMPAS/KRIS R MADA

Riau Islands Governor Nurdin Basirun

JAKARTA, KOMPAS —  Riau Islands Governor Nurdin Basirun was arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Wednesday for allegedly accepting bribes related to the issuance of a location permit for the reclamation plan in the Riau Islands province.

The arrest further added to the long list of regional heads arrested by the KPK due in bribery cases related to the issuance of permits.

KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah confirmed the arrest on Wednesday night at the KPK building, Jakarta. From the operation, the KPK took six people to the Tanjung Pinang Police office for an initial questioning.

"The KPK carried out the arrest in Riau Islands province. Earlier, we received information from the public about a bribe that was allegedly intended for the regional head there,” he said. The six people who were arrested included the governor, the head of the province’s maritime office, officials at the governor’s office and people from the private sector, Febri added.

During the arrest, the KPK also seized S$6,000 in cash allegedly given to the governor for the issuance of a location permit for the reclamation plan in Riau Islands province. "Allegedly, this is not the first bribe. The KPK is currently examining the case in order to determine its legal status within a maximum of 24 hours," Febri said.

The head of public relations of the Riau Islands provincial government, Rizal, said they were waiting for certainty of information on the arrests.

"To my knowledge, this morning, the governor attended the celebration of Bhayangkara (police) day at the office of the regional police in Riau Islands," he said.

Second governor

Before the arrest, on June 27, 2019, the chairman of the KPK, Agus Rahardjo, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Riau Islands provincial government regarding corruption prevention.

The corruption prevention programs would be taken in a number of activities including procurement of goods and services and the issuance of licenses in the region.

Nurdin became the second Riau Islands governor to be arrested by the KPK. Previously, Ismeth Abdullah was detained in a corruption case over the procurement of fire trucks in 2004-2005.

From 2004 to mid-2019, the KPK prosecuted 20 governors (not including Nurdin). Some of them were arrested in bribery cases related to the issuance of licenses. For example, the former Southeast Sulawesi Governor Nur Alam was indicted by the KPK in a case related to the issuance of a mining exploration

permit. In addition, two former governors of Riau, namely Rusli Zainal and Annas Maamun, were also prosecuted by the KPK due to allegations of bribery for permits in the forestry sector.

The central government has appealed to the regional administrations to improve the licensing system in order to prevent bribery. However, many similar cases have continued to occur.

Separately, Firdaus Ilyas of the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said that the regional licensing system still had problems and was the target of bribery and corruption.

The licensing problems that still occur until today, said Firdaus, can affect the economic and investment climate. In addition to simplifying the licensing procedure, transparency also needs to be improved by the regional government. (IAN/NDU)