Indonesia authorities have arrested the country's Social Affairs minister for allegedly receiving $1.2 million in bribes from two contractors appointed to distribute food aid to those affected by the virus pandemic, the Taipei Times reported Monday.
Juliari Batubara was named as a suspect after the government's anti-corruption agents seized envelopes and suitcases with $1.2 million in cash.
The minister was interviewed at the Corruption Eradication Commission headquarters in Jakarta Sunday.
Batubara is the second top official in Indonesia President Joko Widodo's administration to be arrested over alleged bribery in recent weeks.
"That's the people's money...aid urgently needed to help COVID victims," Agence France-Presse quoted Widodo as saying after the minister's arrest. The president said corrupt officials won't be protected.
Indonesia has 576,000 COVID cases with 475,000 recoveries and 17,740 deaths.
If convicted Batubara might be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and fined 1 billion rupiah ($71,000).
Commission chairperson Firli Bahuri said it would determine if it should charge Batubara with a corruption law which imposes a death penalty on officials who attempt to profit by "causing losses in state coffers during a state of emergency."
Edhy Prabowo, the country's Minister of Marine Affairs, and his wife, Indonesia legislator Iis Rosita Dewi, were arrested late November after an inquiry into the issuance of clearances for the export of lobster larvae.
Widodo was elected in 2014 on a promise to contain corruption in the government that saw several influential public figures sent to prison. But concern has grown that the anti-graft body's sway has diminished during his presidency.
