Indonesia Sports Minister Denies SEA Games Corruption Allegations

23.02.2012

Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng has distanced himself from scandals surrounding the Southeast Asian Games and Hambalang Stadium projects, saying he did not know the details of either project and denying ever receiving money from them.
Testifying as a witness in the trial of Muhammad Nazaruddin at Jakarta’s Anti-Corruption Court on Wednesday, Andi said he did not follow the tender process to determine who won the contract to build an athletes’ village for the Southeast Asian Games in Palembang.
“I appointed the secretary of the Sports Ministry, Wafid Muharram, to handle all the technical details of the project,” he said. “I didn’t know anything about the details of the tender process because I only received reports from him.”
Wafid was sentenced to three years in prison by the same court for receiving bribes in connection with the project.
Mindo Rosalina Manulang, a former Nazaruddin employee who has also been jailed in the case, earlier testified at the trial that Nazaruddin had given a total of Rp 20 billion ($2.2 million) to different officials to make sure the contracts to build the athletes’ village and Hambalang Stadium in Bogor went to construction firm Duta Graha Inda.
One of the judges hearing the case reminded Andi that government regulation required ministers to know the details of every project worth more than Rp 100 million in their ministry.
But Andi, who is also a senior official in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyonoc’s Democratic Party, insisted that Wafid had handled everything.
Andi also denied claims by other witnesses that he had met with a number of lawmakers, including Nazaruddin, the Democratic Party’s former treasurer, and Angelina Sondakh, the party’s deputy secretary general, to arrange who would win the tenders.
“I met with them but only to discuss my programs as minister,” he said.
Andi denied having received any kickbacks from the projects.