Indonesia arrests 9 in bribery probe linked to $21b project

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s anti-corruption agency has arrested nine people, including a top district government official and a company director, in a bribery investigation linked to the Lippo Group’s $21 billion Meikarta real estate project near Jakarta. In a sting operation on Sunday, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested two Lippo Group consultants and an employee accused of trying to pay off city officials to obtain property permits for Meikarta, KPK chairman Laode Muhammad Syarif told a news conference late on Monday. Costing $21 billion and billed as the “Shenzhen of Indonesia”, after the booming Chinese city, Meikarta is Lippo’s largest project to date and is meant to be a centre for the automotive and electronic industries, while including five-star hotels, shopping malls and universities. Shares in Lippo Group’s Lippo Cikarang, a parent company for Meikarta, dropped almost 15 percent after the news and ended down 13.36 percent on Tuesday.