Jakarta. The Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, has seized assets including 1 kilogram of gold nugget belonging to disgraced Papua Governor Lukas Enembe from his home in upscale housing complex Pantai Indah Kapuk in West Jakarta, an attorney for the graft suspect said on Wednesday.

“According to Mr. Lukas, the gold nugget came from Papua and it carries an inscription that reads ‘made by Lukas Enembe’,” Petrus Bala Patyona told reporters in Jakarta. 

KPK investigators also took a belt with a tiger head buckle as evidence, the lawyer said.

"In addition, [the KPK] froze his four bank accounts and confiscated a [Toyota] Alphard, and a residential unit at Santa Rosa Apartment,” Petrus said.

His remarks came after the KPK added money laundering charges to the corruption case against Lukas.

"After collecting enough evidence in the ongoing bribery and graft investigation against [Lukas], investigators developed the case so the KPK today named him as a money laundering suspect," KPK spokesman Ali Fikri told reporters earlier in the day.

The KPK will continue to track Lukas’ ill-gotten assets related to the case, he added.

Lukas was arrested in a dramatic raid at a restaurant in the Papua capital of Jayapura on January 10, four months after he was named a corruption suspect.

The KPK took a cautious approach in the initial handling of the case to avoid clashes with the governor’s supporters who continued to stand guard around his home.

The two-term governor is accused of taking billions of rupiah in bribes from businessmen but has resisted arrest since the KPK named him a suspect in September, creating a standoff with security officials who feared that his arrest could trigger bloody riots in the restive province.

During the months-long standoff, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center revealed that Lukas has made payments totaling 55 million Singapore dollars (US$39 million) to overseas casinos since 2017 after they analyzed the governor’s financial records at the request of the KPK.

At one point, Lukas spent 5 million Singapore dollars in a single casino payment, according to the PPATK.

The KPK also found that Lukas once paid 55,000 Singapore dollars for a watch.

The central government raised concern about the governor’s corrupt behavior with President Joko Widodo urging him to honor the KPK summons and saying “everyone is equal before the law”.

Chief Security Minister Mohammad Mahfud MD said in October that the central government had channeled a total of Rp 1,000 trillion ($66 billion) in “autonomy funding” to the impoverished province since 2001, about half of the amount was disbursed during Lukas’ term.

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