Suspicious KPK Auction: OPPO Mobile Phone Purchased for IDR 59 Million Despite IDR 73,000 Reserve Price, Who Is the Buyer?

Jakarta — Boyamin Saiman, coordinator of the Indonesian Anti-Corruption Community (MAKI), has called on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to investigate the identity of the buyer who purchased two mobile phones with a reserve price of IDR 73,000 and sold for approximately IDR 59.71 million at auction.

According to Boyamin, such an investigation is necessary because there may be undisclosed reasons motivating the buyer to pay such an inflated price for the two handsets.

“The KPK must investigate who the buyer is; there may be secrets that need to be uncovered,” said Boyamin when contacted in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He noted that KPK auctions sometimes present anomalies. He cited the example of a batik cloth auction with a reserve price of IDR 500,000 that sold for IDR 5 million.

Boyamin suggested that the batik was purchased by the auction winner because it held sentimental value for its previous owner. However, he argued that mobile phones are different, as their market value typically declines over time.

It is unlikely that the phones were purchased as a keepsake. “With mobile phones, the longer you keep them, the cheaper they become. It’s unlikely they were bought as a keepsake either. Therefore, one must suspect the buyer of these phones if there is data that needs to be protected within them. If it were a keepsake, that would be different,” he said.

Alternatively, Boyamin suggested, the phones could be made of gold or gold-plated, which would justify the buyer’s willingness to pay significantly more for the two OPPO units.

“Or the phones could be gold-plated; it must be something like that. If they are not gold-plated, there is no reason for them to sell for tens of millions, which is simply implausible,” he remarked.