Indonesian fisheries minister arrested by anti-graft agency
By Agustinus Beo Da Costa and Stanley Widianto. JAKARTA, Nov 25- Anti-graft officials arrested Indonesia’s minister for maritime affairs and fisheries, Edhy Prabowo, early on Wednesday, an agency spokesman said, without giving a reason for the detention. The minister was among several people held and could be detained and questioned for up to 24 hours, added Ali…
By Agustinus Beo Da Costa and Stanley Widianto
JAKARTA, Nov 25 (Reuters) – Anti-graft officials arrestedIndonesia’s minister for maritime affairs and fisheries, EdhyPrabowo, early on Wednesday, an agency spokesman said, withoutgiving a reason for the detention.
The minister was among several people held and could bedetained and questioned for up to 24 hours, added Ali Fikri ofthe Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
Media said the minister was arrested when he arrived withhis wife and an aide at the capital’s Soekarno–Hatta airportafter a trip to the United States.
The minister could not immediately be reached for comment.Ministry officials were not immediately available to comment.
A source at the anti-graft agency, who declined to beidentified until an official statement was issued, told Reutersthe arrests were linked to an investigation into the export ofbaby lobsters.
This year, the minister overturned a ban on the export oflobster larvae imposed by his predecessor.
The scrapping of the ban sparked criticism oversustainability concerns and was followed by accusations in aninvestigative magazine in July about irregularities in the awardof licences to export lobster larvae.
Edhy Prabowo denied wrongdoing in comments to media in July.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, ranked 85 outof 198 on Transparency International’s Corruption PerceptionIndex in 2019, improving from 89 a year earlier.(Writing by Kate Lamb; Editing by Martin Petty and ClarenceFernandez)