JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's anti-graft body has detained for questioning a member of parliament in a suspected bribery case related to land use in protected forests in Riau islands off Sumatra, agency officials said on Wednesday. Five people, including the member of parliament, were detained in a five-star Jakarta hotel and a total of about 70 million rupiah ($7,599) was found in a room and a car, said Johan Budi, a spokesman for the agency, known as KPK.
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's anti-graft body has detained for questioning a member of parliament in a suspected bribery case related to land use in protected forests in Riau islands off Sumatra, agency officials said on Wednesday.
Five people, including the member of parliament, were detained in a five-star Jakarta hotel and a total of about 70 million rupiah ($7,599) was found in a room and a car, said Johan Budi, a spokesman for the agency, known as KPK.
"His (the MP's) status is still as a witness and we have the right to interrogate him for 24 hours before deciding his status," Budi added. The agency has identified the MP only by his initials.
Antasari Azhar, chairman of KPK, said the case related to land use in the Riau islands in Sumatra close to Singapore.
!ADVERTISEMENT!"For almost six months KPK has been investigating the proposal to change the function of 7,300 hectares (18,000 acres) of protected forests in Riau islands," he told reporters.
Indonesia has frequently been criticized by green groups for failing to tackle illegal deforestation in the vast archipelago, KPK, a special government body that was set up to investigate top government officials and business executives for graft, has legal powers to make an arrest, take over investigations and fast-track sensitive cases.
Experts often rank Indonesia as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, which deters many investors from committing money to Southeast Asia's biggest economy.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono came to power vowing to tackle rampant corruption in the country.
Officials ranging from a former religious affairs minister to a governor of Aceh province have been jailed under Yudhoyono's graft campaign and a number of top central bank officials are suspects in a high-profile case involving suspected illegal payments to members of parliament.
But critics argue the government's anti-corruption campaign has shied away from taking on powerful vested interests.
(Reporting by Telly Nathalia, Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
