Over S$200m 'stolen from Indonesian ID project'

Jakarta

IT is a scandal that reaches into the pockets of virtually every Indonesian aged 17 and up, and may deliver a political earthquake less than a month before residents of Jakarta return to the polls for a second round of voting for governor.

Indonesia's corruption watchdog, the KPK, has released dozens of names of politicians past and present and from across most major parties, who are suspected of siphoning the equivalent of as much as S$268 million from a programme to revamp the country's identity cards.

The drive was to have made these cards easier to obtain and renew, while limiting fraud and cutting out opportunities for corrupt officials to seek bribes along the way.

But the programme hasn't delivered on its potential. Instead, the the KPK, in what is proving to be its most ambitious case to date, said it is following up on a list of 38 names - a roll call that so far includes current and former Cabinet ministers and the Speaker of Parliament who allegedly took money fro…