Nazaruddin secured his assets

JAKARTA. Fugitive graft suspect Nazaruddin made 90 banking transactions in 10 days after being declared a suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in a construction project bribery scandal, analysts said.

The transactions were markedly different from his previous business activity, where he only made 19 transactions in the nine months before the June 30 declaration.

Fithriadi Muslim, the head of the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre’s (PPATK) regulation unit, said Saturday that the KPK could use the data against the former treasurer of the Democratic Party.

“All transactions were made using accounts owned by either individuals or companies. Company account transactions had a total value of more than Rp 100 billion [US$11.7 million] and individual account transactions had a total value of Rp 50 billion,” he said.

The suspicious transactions were reported by 13 financial services providers, Fithriadi added. “We wrote six analysis reports for the 109 reports and submitted them to the KPK for further investigation,” he said.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi, however, said Sunday that KPK investigators had not decided whether they would freeze all accounts belonging to Nazaruddin. “The option is on the table but it will depend on developments in the investigation,” he said.

Nazaruddin fled the country a day before the KPK imposed a travel ban on him. He stirred chaos within his own party after he publicly accused several top party officials of involvement in the graft scandal.

Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) coordinator Febri Diansyah said he suspected Nazaruddin was wary that his assets may be frozen by authorities and was attempting to move the funds as soon as possible.

“The KPK must act quickly. There is no time for further studies and analysis. They need to block all financial accounts belonging to Nazaruddin and his companies before the money is gone,” he said.

Under the 2010 Money Laundering Law, the KPK has the authority to freeze bank accounts suspected to be linked to corruption or money laundering practices for up to 30 days.

“In that sense, the KPK has the authority to block accounts, not only those belonging to Nazaruddin and his companies, but also the recipients of Nazaruddin’s money,” Febri said.

“However, that move can only be made if the KPK is willing to charge Nazaruddin for violating the money laundering law,” he added.

Johan, however, said only the investigators had the authority to invoke that law.

The Nazaruddin case and the party infighting that followed in its wake have contributed to the party’s plummeting popularity, according to a number of nationwide surveys.

On Saturday, copies of a text message from Democratic Party deputy chief patron and House speaker Marzuki Alie sent to party chief patron President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono were distributed to journalists.

In the message, Marzuki suggested that Yudhoyono take immediate action to deal with the ongoing internal rifts within the party. “This is about leadership,” Marzuki said.

Marzuki confirmed to news portal tempointeraktif.com that he sent the message, but denied it was an attempt to force an extraordinary congress to oust party chairman Anas Urbaningrum, widely seen as a defender of Nazaruddin, who financed his bid to be party chair.

“As a member of the party patronage board, I have the right to offer suggestions to the chief patron,” Marzuki said. (Bagus BT Saragih/The Jakarta Post)