Klaten Regent and Central Java BPK Chief Named Suspects in Bribery Case

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named three suspects in an alleged bribery case involving the Klaten regency administration in Central Java on Friday (16 October).

The KPK identified two of them as Klaten Regent Hamenang Wajar Ismoyo and Central Java BPK chief Ahmad Luthfi. The third suspect is M. Amin Wahyu Utomo, a private-sector figure.

“After an alleged criminal act of corruption was uncovered, the leadership-level case review approved moving the case to the investigation stage. Once sufficient evidence had been established during the investigation, the KPK named three people as suspects,” said KPK Investigation Director Achmat Taufik Husein.

The three were named as suspects after being questioned for 24 hours. Following questioning at the KPK office in Jakarta, they were formally detained and seen wearing the commission’s orange detention vests.

They had earlier been arrested in a sting operation, along with 16 other people, on 15 October 2026.

The KPK then brought nine of the 19 people from Klaten to Jakarta, as well as one person arrested in the capital. The ten were questioned intensively by the commission in Jakarta.

During the sting operation, the KPK also seized a blue drum believed to have been used to store proceeds of corruption. The total cash seized as evidence was Rp1.9 billion.

“Among the evidence secured in this sting operation was cash worth around Rp1.9 billion,” KPK spokesperson Budi Prasetyo said at the KPK’s Merah Putih Building in Jakarta on Friday (16 October).

The KPK said the alleged corruption involved five areas, including the procurement of goods and services, permits, collection fees, payments from local government agencies or work units, and payments to BPK officials to influence an audit.