Jakarta. The National Police have questioned controversial Jakarta councillor Abraham “Lulung” Lunggana over the irregular procurement of uninterruptible power supply, or UPS, devices for schools last year, a corruption case that has cost the capital millions of dollars.

Lulung arrived at the National Police’s detectives’ unit (Bareskrim) headquarters in Jakarta to speak with the detective unit on Thursday morning, but declined to speak with journalists waiting for him.

His lawyer Ramdhan Alamsyah said Lulung was there to provide testimony as a witness in the case.

“Today we answer the summons as a witness for the suspect, Alex Usman,” Ramdhan said.

Police have named two city officials  — Alex Usman and Zaenal Soleman — as suspects in the case, which police have estimated to have cost the city at least Rp 50 billion ($3.9 million).

The city spent Rp 330 billion on UPS equipment for 55 schools in the capital last year, in a program that Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama said his administration had never proposed.

The schools confirmed they neither needed nor requested the devices, which at a price tag of Rp 6 billion ($463,000) each, had an inflated price compared to retail listings of no more than Rp 20 million per device.

The companies listed as tender winners for the procurement were also deemed suspicious. Listed addresses were found to be empty warehouses and small shops.

Police said earlier this year that several witnesses had implicated Lulung, a United Development Party (PPP) politician, and Council Member Fahmi Zulfikar of the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura).

The two politicians’ offices were searched by police on Monday. Documents and electronic devices were confiscated from both offices during the searches.

Lulung has denied any invovement in the case.

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Source: The Jakarta Globe