KPK: Former MPR Secretary-General Requested Kickbacks Coded 'Uang Asalamualaikum'

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has said that Ma’ruf Cahyono (MC), former Secretary General of the People’s Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia (MPR RI), is alleged to have demanded payments from prospective vendors or contractors in goods and services procurement at the MPR Secretariat General, using the code “asalamualaikum money”.

“Prospective contractors were first asked for a fee by MC using the terms ‘burn money’ or ‘asalamualaikum money’,” said Achmad Taufik Husein, Acting Director of Investigation at the KPK, at the KPK’s Red and White Building in Jakarta on Thursday.

Taufik explained that the “asalamualaikum money” amounted to around 10 per cent of the value of the work packages the vendors sought to carry out.

According to him, the payments were then received by the MPR Secretary General for the 2016-2023 period either directly or through a trusted associate with the initials Z.

Meanwhile, he said Ma’ruf Cahyono is suspected of violating Article 12B of Law Number 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption, as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001, in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) point 1 of the Criminal Code (KUHP).

“Furthermore, the KPK has placed MC in detention for the first 20 days, running from 9 to 28 July 2026, at the State Detention Centre, Red and White Building Branch of the KPK,” Taufik said.

Earlier, on 20 June 2025, the KPK announced the start of an investigation into an alleged gratification case related to goods and services procurement at the MPR Secretariat General.

On 23 June 2025, the KPK began summoning witnesses and announced that a state official had been named a suspect.

Subsequently, on 3 July 2025, the KPK revealed that the suspect in the case was Ma’ruf Cahyono.