April 17, 2023
JAKARTA – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Sunday named Bandung Mayor Yana Mulyana and two officials of the city administration as suspects in a bribery case centering on a botched procurement of the internet infrastructure for Bandung’s smart city project.
Yana was arrested on Friday at his official residence in Bandung, West Java, while Bandung Transportation Agency head Dadang Darmawan and secretary Khairul Rijal were arrested in different locations that day.
KPK deputy chairman Nurul Ghufron told a press conference in the early hours on Sunday that Yana and his men were allegedly accepting bribes from executives of two private companies which provided internet services and CCTV cameras for the smart city program in the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
KPK investigators have arrested the businessmen in question: a director and a manager of PT Sarana Mitra Adiguna (SMA), identified only by their initials BN and AG, and a CEO of PT Citra Jelajah Informatika (CIFO), identified by his initials SS. They all were accused of paying bribes to Yana.
Investigators also confiscated a total of Rp 924 million (US$62,500) in rupiah and foreign currencies.
Nurul said Yana’s involvement with PT SMA and PT CIFO started not long after he came into office in 2022 following the death of Bandung mayor Oded Mohamad Danial. Yana previously was Oded’s deputy mayor.
Yana first met with the three businessmen of the two companies in his official residence in Bandung in August 2022, when his administration was looking for CCTV and internet service providers for the Bandung smart city project at the time, according to Nurul.
“In December, there was another meeting between SS [CEO of PT CIFO], Yana and the [secretary of the Bandung Transportation Agency]. During the meeting, SS was thought to hand Yana some cash, and the two discussed the conditions for PT CIFO to be selected as a [vendor],” Nurul said.
PT CIFO won the tender for the Rp 2.5 billion procurement project for internet services in January of this year.
Yana, along with his family and staffers, was also awarded a holiday trip to Thailand and a sum of money under the guise of Idul Fitri holiday bonuses from PT SMA.
“During [questioning], KPK investigators also got information that [Yana], as Bandung mayor, had received similar bribes from other parties. This is something we will look into further during our investigation,” Nurul said.
KPK investigators, Nurul went on to say, are widening its probe to investigate whether Yana, a Gerindra Party politician, had other accomplices in the city administration or the Bandung City Council (DPRD).
Yana’s arrest adds to the long list of regional heads who are facing KPK probes, ahead of the 2024 regional elections.
Last month, the KPK detained Ben Brahim Bahat, regent of Kapuas in Central Kalimantan, his wife and NasDem Party politician Ary Egahni, who was a House of Representatives lawmaker representing the Central Kalimantan electoral district. The two are suspected of having stolen Rp 8.7 billion from the regency’s budget in a corruption case to line their own pockets, allegedly to fund their potential run in gubernatorial and legislative elections in 2024.
Earlier this month, the KPK also arrested Muhammad Adil, regent of Meranti Islands in Riau, on similar corruption charges.