Indonesia minister surrenders to authorities over Covid-19 aid bribe charges

Officers arrange suitcases full of rupiah and US dollar bills confiscated from suspects as the chairman of Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission Firli Bahuri, top centre, looks on (Birendra/AP)

Indonesia’s anti-corruption commission has formally detained the country’s social affairs minister after he surrendered to authorities on Sunday to face charges of taking bribes related to the government’s Covid-19 aid distribution.

Social affairs minister Juliari Batubara turned himself in to the Corruption Eradication Commission hours after the commission’s chairman, Firli Bahuri, called on him to surrender at a news conference at around midnight on Saturday.