Suspected of graft, Indonesian parliament speaker under guard in hospital

JAKARTA: Indonesian anti-graft investigators have put the speaker of parliament, who they have identified as a suspect in a $170 million corruption case, under armed guard in hospital after he was involved in a car accident, his lawyer said on Friday. Officers from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) tried to arrest Setya Novanto, the chairman of Golkar, Indonesia’s second-largest party and partner in the ruling coalition, at his house in Jakarta late on Wednesday. But the investigators, watched by television cameras, failed to find him, sparking speculation that he had gone into hiding. The KPK is investigating state losses amounting to about $170 million linked to a national electronic identity card scheme after allegations that sums ranging from $5,000 to $5.5 million - generated by marking up procurement costs - were divided up among politicians in parliament. Novanto was named a suspect in the case again last week after he had used a controversial legal manoeuvre, a pre-trial motion, to get earlier charges dropped last month. He has denied wrongdoing but has repeatedly missed summonses from the KPK for questioning in recent months, saying he was ill and needed to undergo heart surgery.