Rudi's Arrest No Surprise for Mahfud MD

Jember, East Java (Antara) - Former constitutional court chief justice Mahfud MD has revealed that the arrest of SKK Migas chairman Rudi Rubiandini hardly came as a surprise. "I had long suspected that he had problems, so his arrest did not surprise me," said Mahfud, on the sidelines of a post-fasting gathering of Nahdlatul Ulama members at Nurul Islam boarding school here on Wednesday. He stated that his suspicions arose last year, after the constitution court (MK) dissolved upstream gas and oil regulator BP Migas when Rudi was deputy minister of energy and mineral resources. Mahfud admitted that several people who had submitted data about irregularities at BP Migas during the trial of the agency at MK had told him about Rudi's involvement in such cases. "After MK issued its verdict ¿after a the judicial review of Law Number 22 of 2011 about BP Migas¿ and dissolved the agency, Rudi became the strongest critic of MK and attacked it with baseless statements," he said. Mahfud expressed belief that Rudi was not alone and that many others were involved in the irregularities at BP Migas. However, he added, he did not have the authority to suggest so, as it was under the purview of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). "The corruption case concerning SKK Migas chief is similar to that of Nazaruddin. Therefore, the KPK must have courage to conduct a thorough investigation in order to uncover a number of acts of corruption at BP Migas," he said. Mahfud expressed optimism that the KPK would investigate Rudi's case meticulously and reveal a lot of facts that would implicate many others, just the way it happened in Hambalang sports complex project. "Apart from being involved in bribery, he has also worked on the Lapindo project and failed to stop the mudflow there. Let the KPK investigate it thoroughly, because Rudi's case will involve many people," he said. Rudi was arrested by the KPK on Tuesday on charges of receiving US$400,000 in bribe money. "The KPK leadership has agreed to upgrade the questioning process into a judicial investigation involving three suspects. The one identified as S is the one who offered the bribe, while those identified as A and R received the bribes," KPK deputy Bambang Widjojanto told the press here on Wednesday. (*)