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JAKARTA: Anti-corruption officials arrested Indonesia’s fisheries and maritime affairs minister Edhy Prabowo early on Wednesday (November 25), an agency spokesperson said, without giving a reason for the arrest.
The minister was among several people detained and could be detained and interrogated for up to 24 hours, added Ali Fikri of the Commission for the Eradication of Corruption (KPK).
Media said the minister was arrested when he arrived with his wife and an attendant at the capital’s Soekarno-Hatta airport after a trip to the United States.
The minister could not immediately be reached for comment. Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.
A source from the anti-graft agency, who declined to be identified until an official statement was issued, told Reuters the arrests were linked to an investigation into the export of baby lobster.
This year, the minister revoked a ban on the export of lobster larvae imposed by his predecessor.
The lifting of the ban sparked criticism over sustainability concerns and was followed by allegations in an investigative magazine in July about irregularities in the licensing of lobster larvae.
Edhy Prabowo denied wrongdoing in comments to the media in July.
Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia, ranked 85th out of 198 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index in 2019, improving from 89 the previous year.
