Jakarta. A North Sumatra district chief was arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission or KPK on Wednesday night for allegedly accepting bribes in another major corruption case targeting crooked regional leaders.

Terbit Rencana Perangin Angin, the Langkat district chief, arrived at the KPK building in South Jakarta escorted by investigators and security personnel just before midnight.

KPK Deputy Chairman Nurul Ghufron said the district head reportedly intended to take 786 million rupees in bribes from a businessman who won local government projects.

Nurul said a KPK team carried out an operation in Langkat on Tuesday to follow up on a whistleblower of alleged corruption and arrested four businessmen gathered at a cafe.

One of them is identified as Muara Perangin Angin who withdrew the money from several banks before the rally. Muara, who has no family ties to Terbit, has won several infrastructure projects worth Rp 4.3 billion from the district government, Nurul said.

Muara reportedly tried to get the notes to the district head via his three colleagues identified as Marcos Surya Abdi, Shuhanda Citra and Isfi Syahfitra who acted as intermediaries.

The KPK team then moved to the residence of the district chief but he could not be found.

“When the team arrived at the scene, they received information that TRP and his brother had fled in an apparent attempt to evade arrest,” Nurul said at a press conference early. Thursday, referring to Terbit by his initials.

Terbit and his older brother, Iskandar, took refuge in the nearby Binjai police station, Nurul said. The brother is said to be the district chief’s most reliable assistant in dealing with the local business community.

KPK investigators went to the police station to question and arrest Terbit on Wednesday afternoon before he was flown to Jakarta.

The district chief, his brother and the four businessmen were named as corruption suspects after a preliminary investigation, he added.

Terbit is one of the richest regional rulers in the country with a personal wealth of Rs 85 billion as per his public disclosure.

He is the third regional leader to be arrested by the powerful commission in just two weeks, following the arrests of Bekasi Mayor Rahmat Effendi and North Penajam Paser District Chief Abdul Gafur Mas’ud.

They are accused of taking bribes from businessmen who have won local government projects.