New corruption investigation

JAKARTA: The Attorney General's Office (AGO) is investigating an alleged corruption case at the Ministry of Health that has caused losses to the state of up to Rp 7.3 billion.

Two officials at the Ministry -- Raizekki and Suharyono Saleh -- have been named as suspects in the case, which revolves around the tender for the purchase of 788 fogging machines at the Ministry's Directorate General for Communicable Diseases.

The Office's spokesman, Barman Zahir, said on Monday that the two suspects had been charged with abusing their positions to enrich themselves.

Raizekki was the head of the fogging machine provision project, which was funded by foreign loans, while Suharyono was the chairman of the tender team.

Sutarip, a member of the tender committee, testified as a witness that Suharyono canceled the first tender but directly set up a new tender committee without informing him. -- Antara