The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has named three Jambi provincial administration officials and a regional legislator as suspects of alleged bribery related to the formulation of the 2018 provincial budget.

The officials, who allegedly paid the bribe, were acting provincial secretary Erwan Malik, Jambi Public Works and Public Housing Agency acting head Arfan and the Jambi administration's assistant III Saipudin. Meanwhile, the arrested legislator was Supriyono of the National Mandate Party (PAN).

“The [alleged] bribe confiscated by investigators totaled Rp 4.7 billion [US$348,270],” KPK commissioner Basaria Panjaitan said during a press briefing on Wednesday.

She added that the alleged bribe was intended as a kickback to persuade legislators to attend a regional council budget approval assembly, as the latter had planned not to attend because of a lack of “guarantees” from their executive counterparts.

Investigators arrested Saipudin and Supriyono during an operation on Tuesday, after an alleged transaction had occurred in the provincial capital of Jambi. The money allegedly came from several companies related to the Jambi administration.

“We suspect that the money would have been disbursed to all factions. We are going to dig deeper into the matter as well as the private companies that [allegedly] supplied the money,” Basaria said. (ebf)