Witness Of Bribes In Benur Case Passes Away, KPK Ensures That The Investigation Process Is Not Affected

KPK Building (Wardhany Tsa Tsia / VOI)

JAKARTA - A witness in the alleged bribery case for the export license of lobster or fry has died. Acting KPK spokesperson for prosecution Ali Fikri said that the witness named Deden Deni died on Thursday, December 31, 2020.

"The information we received that he died around December 31," Ali told reporters, Monday, January 4.

Deden is an important witness because he is the controller of PT Aero Citra Kargo (PT ACK). He is suspected of knowing many things related to the bribery case that ensnared the former Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, Edhy Prabowo. Not only that, Deden, who was said to be one of the Directors of PT Perishable Logistic Indonesia (PLI), was also briefly secured and examined intensively when the KPK held an OTT on November 25, 2020 and was examined by KPK investigators on December 7, 2020.

At that time, investigators were questioning Deden regarding the process of submitting an application for a lobster fry export permit at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. PT ACK is the only cargo company that Edhy Prabowo has approved to monopolize the fries transportation service abroad with a transportation fee of Rp1,800 per head. In carrying out the monopoly of the cargo business, PT ACK uses PT PLI, which is part of the ATT Group, as the operator of the field for shipping fries abroad.

Allegedly, from the rate of Rp1,800 per head stipulated for sending the fry abroad, there is a fee for Edhy Prabowo, who owns shares in PT ACK by borrowing the names or nominees of Amri and Ahmad Bahtiar.

Not only that, the name Deden is also one of the four names prevented by the KPK from traveling abroad for the next six months. Apart from Deden, three other names were prevented from traveling abroad, namely member of Commission V DPR from the Gerindra Faction Iis Rosita Dewi who is also the wife of Edhy Prabowo; Neti Herawati, the wife of PT ACK Siswadhy's management who also has the status of a suspect; and Dipo Tjahjo Pranoto who was said to be the controller of PT PLI.

Although a witness known to many of these cases has died, Ali emphasized that this would not affect the process of investigating this bribery case. This is because there are still many witnesses and other evidence that investigators can use to uncover this case.

"The process of investigating the case of the EP suspect (Edhy Prabowo) and his friends has not been disturbed. So far it is still ongoing and of course there are still many witnesses and other evidence that strengthens the evidence of a series of alleged corruption actions by the suspects," he said.

Previously reported, the KPK named a number of suspects in the bribery case related to the export of lobster seeds. They are former Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Edhy Prabowo, Special Staff of the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries as well as Deputy Chief Executive of Safri's Due Diligence (SAF) Team, Special Staff of the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries as well as Chief Executive of the Due Diligence Team, Andreau Pribadi Misata (APM), private / Personal Secretary of the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Amiril Mukminin (AM).

Then, the management of PT Aero Citra Kargo (ACK) Siswadi (SWD), the staff of the wife of the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ainul Faqih (AF), and the Director of PT Dua Putra Perkasa (DPP) Suharjito (SJT).

In this case, Edhy was named a suspect because he was suspected of accepting bribes from companies that had been issued a lobster seed export license using a forwarder company and were kept in one account up to Rp9.8 billion.

The money that goes to the account of PT ACK, which is currently the sole cargo service provider for the export of lobster seeds, is then withdrawn to the accounts of PT ACK holders, namely Ahmad Bahtiar and Amri, for a total of Rp9.8 billion.

Furthermore, on November 5, 2020, Ahmad Bahtiar transferred Rp3.4 billion to the staff account of Edhy's wife, Ainul, which was earmarked for the needs of Edhy, his wife Iis Rosyati Dewi, Safri, and Andreau.

Among other things, it is used for shopping for luxury goods by Edhy and his wife in Honolulu, USA on November 21 to 23, 2020, amounting to around IDR 750 million, including Rolex watches, Tumi and LV bags, road bikes, and Old Navy clothes.

In addition, around May 2020, Edhy was also suspected of receiving 100 thousand US dollars from Suharjito through Safri and Amiril.