DANIEL Tandjung, a member of the United Development Party (PPP), was given an envelope with his name on it by fellow party member Endin A.J. Soefihara, who said, “You’re boat has come in, here’s a traveler’s check for five hundred million.”

Daniel, now 76, had just arrived at the House of Representatives (DPR) complex on Wednesday, June 9, 2004 to meet Endin, the PPP faction secretary, who had invited him to drop by his office. The previous evening, the DPR Finance & Banking Commission, of which both Endin and Daniel were members, had just elected Miranda Swaray Gultom as Bank Indonesia Senior Deputy Governor.

Daniel told the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators that on entering Endin’s office, he was immediately presented with the envelope. “Thanks, but where is it from?” he asked. Endin replied, “From someone who entrusted it to me.” Daniel asked again, “From who?” His colleague replied: “From Miranda.”

Daniel, a legislator during the 1999-2004 term, quickly saw the light, and returned to his office tightly clutching the envelope.

But it was four years later that the bribery scandal surrounding the selection of Miranda first saw the light of day. And that was after Agus Condro Prayitno, a DPR member from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), spilled the beans. Questioned as a witness by the KPK in another case in August 2008, he admitted receiving 10 checks one day after Miranda’s election. He said he was convinced that the Rp500 million he was given was to compensate his support for Miranda, whose nomination was being pushed by senior colleagues in his party.

Agus cashed four of the checks on June 2004, with some of the money being used to buy a flashy Mercedes-Benz sedan. Three days later, he cashed the other six checks in Batang, Central Java, his hometown. During the KPK investigation, he showed investigators his savings’ book, which allowed the anticorruption watchdog, with the help of the Financial Transactions Reporting & Analysis Center (PPATK) to quickly trace the checks, whose serial numbers and issuing offices were quickly identified. And so the flow of funds to Senayan, home of the DPR, began to become clearer.

Agus’s confession implicated four of his colleagues from the DPR’s Finance & Banking Commission: Dudhie Makmun Murod (PDI-P), Endin Soefihara (PPP), Hamka Yandhu (Golkar), and Udju Djuhaeri TNI/National Police faction). The court found Dudhie, Endin, and Udju guilty of accepting a bribe and sentenced each of them to two years, while Hamka was given two and a half years.

Armed with this verdict, the KPK last Wednesday charged another 26 members of the 1999-2004 commission as suspects in the case. Fourteen of them are from PDI-P, 10 from Golkar, and two from the United Development Party. “The evidence against them is solid,” said Bibit Samad Rianto, a KPK Deputy Chairman.

Agus Condro and Daniel Tandjung are also on the list of suspects, as is Panda Mababan, then the PDI-P faction secretary and T.M. Nurlif, a former member of the Golkar faction and now a member of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK). An even bigger fish, Paskah Suzetta, the former Deputy Chairman of the Finance Commission and a former National Development Planning Minister, has also been charged.

The files on three military men who were previously declared suspects in the case—Darsup Yusuf, R Sulistiyadi, and Suyitno—were handed over to military headquarters, but to date there are no signs that proceedings have been taken against them.

THE decision to select a new Bank Indonesia Senior Deputy Governor was taken at a meeting attended by 57 members of the Finance & Banking Commission on the evening of June 8 in 2004. Miranda was the outright winner, garnering 41 votes to defeat the other two candidates, Budi Rochadi and Hartadi A. Sarwono.

The selection process commenced at 9am on the same day with hearings on the suitability of the three candidates. Headed by commission chairman Emir Moeis, the meeting was also attended by the three deputy chairs—Paskah Suzetta, Faisal Baasir (PPP), and Ali Masykur Musa (National Awakening Party—PKB).

While the commission members were busy in the morning listening to the candidates outline their plans if elected, others were busy at the offices of PT First Mujur Plantation & Industry, located on the 27th floor of the Artha Graha Building in the SCBD area of South Jakarta. First Mujur is a company owned by Hidayat Lukman alias Tedy Uban, a close associate of Artha Graha boss Tommy Winata. Budi Santoso, the company’s finance director, is also known to be close to Tommy.

During questioning by KPK investigators last June, Budi said that he had been instructed that morning by Tedy Uban to transfer Rp24 billion to an account at Bank Artha Graha, which was ostensibly to be used to finance the expansion of an oil palm plantation owned by businessman Suhardi Suparman alias Ferry Yen.

However, it soon became clear that the money would be going nowhere beyond Jakarta. Budy said that Ferry Yen asked for the payment to be made in travelers’ checks, each valued at Rp50 million. Budy complied, instructing his staff to organize the purchase of the checks, which were eventually supplied by Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII). Around midday, according to Budy, 480 travelers’ checks were handed over to Ferry.

Even if the KPK wanted to, Ferry can no longer be questioned, having passed away in 2007, one year before the scandal first broke. However, a relative of Ferry’s told Tempo that he had previously worked at Artha Graha.

It has also proved impossible to question Teddy Uban. His family sent a letter to the KPK stating that Teddy is currently being treated at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore. And the elusive Tommy Winata appears to be incommunicado, for now at least. “He’s out of town,” an unidentified person said when Tempo called Tommy’s usual contact number last Friday.

Supposedly to finance an oil palm project, the travelers’ checks were already on their way to the DPR just one hour after being issued. The checks were first delivered to PT Wahana Esa Sejati, of which the CEO was Nunun Nurbaeti, the wife of Adang Daradjatun, the then Deputy Chief of the National Police and now a member of the DPR.

At 10am on the same day, Nunun summoned Ahmad Hakim Safari Malangjudo, or Ari, a director of the company. Already waiting in the room was a man wearing a jacket—this was Hamka Yandhu. Nunun said that she wanted Arie to convey “signs of our appreciation to the DPR members.” After initially protesting, Arie finally agreed to do what he was told. “Later this gentleman will contact you,” Nunun said, pointing at Hamka.

Hamka then indicated four shopping bags sitting on the ground beside Nunun’s desk. “Everything’s arranged, and each of the bags is color-coded: red, yellow, green and white,” said Hamka, a Golkar politician. Arie nodded his head.

Like in a spy novel, around midday Arie received a mysterious telephone call. “I want to take the red ones,” said a male voice on the other end of the line. “Who is this?” Arie replied. The caller did not respond, merely saying, “I’ll be waiting for you at the Bebek Bali restaurant in Taman Ria Senayan,” before hanging up.

Arie immediately contacted Nunun to tell her about the call. Nunun then instructed an office boy to take the four bags to Arie’s office, who loaded them all into the trunk of his car before heading off to the Bebek Bali restaurant. On the way, he received another call. “I want to make a pick-up,” said another mysterious voice. Joking, Arie asked, “Red, yellow or green?” “Green,” the caller hissed. “I’ll be waiting at 3pm at Hotel Century, upper lobby cafe.”

At Bebek Bali, a man wearing a hat was waiting behind the partition between the dining room and the entrance lobby. “From Ibu Nunun?” he asked. Arie nodded. The man, who it later emerged was Dudhie Makmun Murod, pointed to the red bag. “Sorry, I’m in a bit of a rush. I have to go to another meeting,” he said, as quoted by Arie to the KPK investigators.

Arie then set off for the Hotel Atlet Century, not far away from the Bebek Bali restaurant. When he got there, he went straight up to the cafe on the second-floor lobby, where he saw a man looking at him. “From Ibu Nunun, right?” the man asked, and Arie answered, “Yes, green?” The man was Endin Soefihara. Mission accomplished, Arie returned to his office. Then at 5pm, Hamka Yandhu called, saying that he wanted to pick up the yellow bag. Hamka arrived around sunset.

After that, Udju Djuhaeri and three members of the TNI/Police faction showed up to collect the white bag. In front of Arie, Udju told his colleagues to open the envelopes. “You should open then now, gentlemen,” he said. “We don’t want anyone to complain later and for me to get the blame.” After the checks had been counted, Udju asked, “Everything OK, gentlemen?” His three colleagues all answered in the affirmative.

After all of the bags had been picked up, the travelers’ checks quickly found their way into the pockets of the commission members. Most of them received their money in the days after Miranda’s selection. Testifying in court, Dudhie said that in the case of the PDI-P faction, the payouts were organized by Panda Nababan. But contacted by Tempo last Friday, Panda vehemently denied Dudhie’s claims.

Some of the checks were cashed by the commission members themselves, and others by their wives, children, aides, staff or relatives. Among those who cashed their own checks were Dudhie M. Murod, Max Moein, Budiningsih, Soewarno, Agus Condro, Marthin Bria Seeran, and Ni Luh Mariani Tirtasari. “I’m ready to face the court, and the court will find that I was not involved in this affair,” said a confident-sounding Marthin.

Golkar politician Bobby Suhardiman’s check, meanwhile, was cashed by his wife, Fatma Sari Tahir, at the end of June 2004. Bobby received the check from Hamka after receiving a call from him one afternoon. “Bobby, I’ve an envelope for you. Can you come over to my office?” Bobby did as he was told, and in return for his efforts, he was presented with an envelope containing 10 checks.

BII told the KPK that 462 of the travelers’ checks, worth Rp23.1 billion, were cashed in 2004, while 16 of them, worth Rp800 million, were cashed in 2005. Two others had yet to be cashed by the time the scandal came to light.

THE investigations by the KPK came to an end after Hamka, Dudhie, Endin and Udju were brought to court, with the investigators now awaiting the outcome of the trials. “No more bugging or anything else is taking place,” a KPK source told Tempo. “The investigators are now just analyzing the testimonies of the witnesses and defendants.”

Last month, according to a Tempo source, the KPK decided to focus on the flow of money to the recipients, rather than on the source of the funds. It was believed there was already sufficient evidence to secure convictions of those who accepted the bribes, but not enough to go after the sponsors.

On August 27, a meeting of KPK leaders set up six investigation teams to go after the 26 new suspects. During the process, another source said, alarm bells started to ring in the commission as there were indications that two of the investigating officers were in frequent communication with a “certain businessman” suspected of having funded the purchase of the checks. Unfortunately there was not enough evidence to move against the officers. And so the two are still involved in the investigation, although they are being watched closely.

KPK Deputy Chairman M. Jasin refused to go into the specific details leading up to the indictment of the 26 politicians. “That’s confidential,” he said, while adding that based on normal procedure, “then we hold a case meeting. If there’s enough evidence, the process is moved forward. The process may seem very long drawn-out, but not excessively so.”

KPK Deputy Chairman Bibit Samad Rianto said that the commission was still investigating the possible involvement of three other politicians, although he refused to reveal their names.

However, more concrete information was forthcoming from a source in the KPK, who said that the three were members of the 1999-2004 DPR from one of the big parties. While they were clearly involved, the source said, there was still not enough evidence to secure their convictions. One of them was believed to have accepted the travelers’ checks but had not been present at the meeting to devise a strategy for ensuring Miranda’s selection. Another had been at the meeting, but had received the checks after Miranda’s election, rather than before. Thus, he had the option of arguing that the checks had in fact been for campaign funds, even though they were given to him by the suspects in the Miranda case. Regarding the third potential suspect, while he had been at the meeting, there was as yet no evidence that he had accepted checks.

According to the source, the KPK was taking its time so as to ensure that all of its prosecutions were watertight. This is essential, he said, given that the commission has no power to drop charges once they have been made. Thus, in the case of a legislator who accepted checks but did not attend the carve-up meeting, the court might find that this only amounted to the acceptance of a gratuity, which carries light sanctions, rather than corruption. Similarly, the source said, a legislator who claimed he accepted the checks as campaign funds could well walk free as the law in this area was unclear. “However, we’re going to closely investigate the role of the three during our questioning of the other 26 suspects,” the source said.

There was quick political response to the indictment of the 26 new suspects. On Wednesday last week, the PDI-P leadership convened a meeting and met with party leader Megawati Soekarnoputri. Led by Trimedya Panjaitan, the chairman of the party’s central executive board, a number of PDI-P politicians visited the KPK headquarters last Friday.

A number of well-known figures also attempted to contact the KPK leaders. But their doors were tightly shut. Six years after the “boat came in,” it looks like it is on the verge of sinking, potentially bringing down all those who were on board.

Budi Setyarso, Arif Zulkifli, Wahyu Dhyatmika, Yuliawati

In the Money

One day after Miranda Gultom is voted in, the checks have been distributed to most of the members of the DPR Finance & Banking Commission. Some of the members cashed the checks themselves, while others were cashed by their wives, children, employees or relatives. Those who cashed the checks themselves were easily traced by the Financial Transactions Reporting & Analysis Center (PPATK). They included:

PDI-P Faction DPR-RI

Agus Condro Prayitno
Rp500 million

Williem Tutuarima
Rp500 million

Sutanto Pranoto
Rp600 million

Jeffrey Tongas Lumban
Rp500 million

Poltak Sitorus
Rp500 million

Budiningsih
Rp500 million

Max Moein
Rp500 million

Engelina Pattiasina
Rp500 million

Muhammad Iqbal
Rp500 million

Rusman Lumbantoruan
Rp500 million

Mathoes Pormes
Rp500 million

Soewarno
Rp500 million

Golongan Karya Faction DPR-RI

T.M. Nurlif
Rp550 million

Bobby Suhardiman
Rp500 million

Baharuddin Aritonang
Rp350 million

Hengky Baramuli
Rp500 million

Paskah Suzetta
Rp600 million

Reza Kamarullah
Rp500 million

Antony Zeidra Abidin
Rp600 million

Ahmad Hafiz Zamawi
Rp600 million

Antony Zeidra Abidin
Rp600 million

Marthin Brian Seran
Rp250 million

Asep Ruchimat Sudjana
Rp150 million

PPP Faction DPR-RI

Sofyan Usman
Rp500 million