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

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has stated that former MPR RI Secretary-General Ma’ruf Cahyono allegedly requested kickbacks from prospective vendors involved in the procurement of goods and services within the MPR RI Secretariat General, using the code ‘uang asalamualaikum’. ‘Prospective vendors were first asked for a fee by MC, using the terms ’uang hangus’ or ‘uang asalamualaikum’,’ said Acting Director of Investigation at the KPK, Achmad Taufik Husein, at the KPK’s Red and White Building in Jakarta on Thursday. Taufik explained that the amount of the ‘uang asalamualaikum’ was around 10 per cent of the value of the work package the vendors wished to secure. He said the kickback was received by the Secretary-General, who served from 2016 to 2023, either directly or through a trusted associate with the initial Z. Ma’ruf Cahyono has been charged under 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) of the Criminal Code. ‘Furthermore, the KPK has detained MC for the first 20 days, from 9 to 28 July 2026, at the KPK Red and White Building State Detention Centre branch,’ Taufik stated. The KPK previously announced the commencement of an investigation into an alleged gratuity case related to the procurement of goods and services within the MPR RI Secretariat General on 20 June 2025. On 23 June 2025, the KPK began summoning witnesses and announced it had named a state official as a suspect. Subsequently, on 3 July 2025, the KPK revealed that the suspect in the case was Ma’ruf Cahyono.