JAKARTA. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said on Tuesday that it had adhered to prevailing rules when naming state-owned port operator PT Pelindo II’s former president director, Richard Joost Lino, a graft suspect.

KPK legal bureau chief Setiadi said the antigraft body had obtained two pieces of preliminary evidence, which was adequate to name Lino a suspect in a corruption case related to his decision to directly appoint a supplier in the procurement of three quay container cranes (QCC) for Pelindo II in 2010.

“In the last case expose, we concluded that we had adequate preliminary evidence in the case,” Setiadi said as quoted by kompas.com during a pretrial hearing Lino requested to challenge his suspect status at the South Jakarta District Court.

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“We also elevated our pre-investigation process in the case to investigation level,” he further said.

Setiadi further said that during the pre-investigation stage, KPK investigators had carried out a string of case exposes on the case in front of KPK leaders and officials in the commission’s law enforcement division.

In Tuesday’s hearing, the KPK responded to accusations Lino conveyed during a hearing the previous day.

Through his lawyer, Maqdir Ismail, Lino filed a pretrial motion with the South Jakarta District Court on Dec.28, 2015.

The KPK named Lino a graft suspect on Dec.18, 2015, after he was implicated in a corruption case related to the QCC procurement. The three cranes are located at the Pontianak port, West Kalimantan, Panjang Port, Lampung and the Palembang port in South Sumatra.

Lino has been accused of misusing his authority to enrich himself in the procurement of the three QCC from Chinese company Wuxi Huadong Heavy Machinery Co. Ltd. (HDHM) in 2010.

State losses

During the pretrial hearing on Monday, Maqdir claimed that naming Lino a suspect was illegitimate as the KPK had not calculated state losses in the case. Lino had also not been questioned before the anti-graft body named him a suspect.

The anti-corruption body started to investigate the case based on a report dated March 2015, which stated that there was suspected corruption in the procurement of the cranes.

"We collected 159 documents during the preliminary investigation phase, including memos from the Pelindo II former president director to the company’s technical and operational director and to the procurement bureau chief, dated Jan.18, 2010," Setiadi said.

On Wednesday, the South Jakarta District Court is set to resume Lino’s pretrial hearings and will hear the suspect’s comments on statements made by KPK prosecutors during Tuesday’s hearing.

The KPK charged Lino under Article 2 and/or Article 3 of Law No. 31/1999 on corruption and Article 55 of the Criminal Code. The KPK imposed a travel ban on Lino on Dec. 30, 2015, which is valid for six months. (Erika Anindita)