KPK to seize yet another luxury home from Luthfi

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) says it will soon seize a fifth luxury home from Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, the former Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman implicated in the beef import scandal.

KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said that the address of the 440-square-meter house was Jl. Kebagusan Dalam I No. 44 in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta. “The house is some kind of a townhouse,” Johan told a reporters at KPK headquarters in Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Tuesday.

The commission also expected it would soon complete the dossiers on Luthfi and close aide Ahmad Fathanah, both of whom have been named suspects in the scandal. “Either on Thursday or Friday,” Johan told The Jakarta Post.

Once the completed dossiers are forwarded to prosecutors and are formally accepted, preparations for the suspects’ criminal trials can be begin.

The KPK has confiscated four houses purchased by Luthfi using funds that were allegedly illegally obtained. Three of the houses are located in a 4,000-square-meter housing complex near Jl. Batu Ampar in Condet, East Jakarta, while the fourth is a 900-square-meter house with the address of Jl. Hj. Samali No. 27 in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta.

Investigators have also seized eight cars belonging to Luthfi.

While two Toyota FJ Cruisers were confiscated without incident, PKS officials resisted when the KPK attempted to confiscate the others.

The six vehicles, identified as a VW Carravelle, a Mazda CX9, a Toyota Fortuner, a Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, a Mitsubishi Grandis and a Nissan Navara, were allegedly moved by close Luthfi aide Ahmad Zaky from Luthfi’s houses to PKS headquarters after the KPK charged Luthfi with money laundering.

While Zaky told the KPK where the vehicles were and led investigators to their location at PKS headquarters on Jl. TB Simatupang in South Jakarta, he fled before the commission could confiscate the cars.

Zaky’s whereabouts remain unknown. He has failed to honor two subsequent summonses from the commission.

Johan said that the KPK had not decided on how to proceed. “We can forcibly bring him in for questioning, but it is up to the investigators, who know whether it is necessary,” he said.

The KPK may also summon Darin Mumtazah, a high school student thought to be Luthfi’s wife, who has also failed to answer two KPK summonses, according to the spokesman.

“First, she did not appear because she said that she did not get the summons. Second, she simply did not show up,” Johan said.

Darin is an Indonesian of Arab descent, fueling speculation that she might be married to Luthfi, who has implied that he had at least one wife of Middle East descent in a tapped phone conversation between him and the alleged middleman in the scandal, Fathanah.

In the conversation, which was replayed to the court as Fathanah testified at the trial of the alleged bribe-payers, he told Luthfi that his wives were already waiting for him.

“Which ones? The pustun ones or the Java Syarkiah ones?” Luthfi replied. Luthfi’s lawyer, M. Assegaf, said that Luthfi was referring to the Pashtun, the largest ethnic group in Pakistan.

He said that Luthfi said his wife as a Pashtun, referring to her beauty. “Luthfi was just joking with Fathanah,” Assegaf told the Post.

Following coverage of the beef scandal, which has rocked the PKS, current chairman Anis Matta paid a visit to the country’s second-largest Islamic social organization, Muhammadiyah, on Tuesday.

Speaking after the visit, Anis claimed that the visit was a form of silaturahmi, or effort to maintain friendly relationships, denying that the PKS wanted to raise Rp 2 trillion (US$204 million) from three ministries to fund the party’s political campaigns for the 2014 general elections.

“That’s beyond imagination,” Anis said. (Hans Nicholas Jong, The Jakarta Post)

Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq’s assets seized by KPK

Houses
• Three houses in a housing complex on Jl. Batu Ampar, Condet, East Jakarta. Housing complex size: 4,000 m2
• One house on Jl. Hj. Samali, Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta. Under the name of Ahmad Zaky. Size: 900 m2
• One house on Jl. Kebagusan Dalam I, Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta. Size: 440 m2

Cars
• 2 Toyota FJ Cruisers
• Mazda CX9 under Luthfi’s name
• Mitsubishi Grandis
• Mitsubishi Pajero Sport under Luthfi’s name
• Nissan Navara under the name Rantala Sikayo, Luthfi’s assistant at the House of the Representatives
• Toyota Fortuner under the name Ahmad Zaky, Luthfi’s aide
• Volkswagen Caravelle under the name Ali Imron, Luthfi’s aide