Investigators from the South Sulawesi Regional Police’s Criminal Investigation Department uncovered 31 cases of criminal acts of corruption with 21 people named as suspects. South Sulawesi Regional Police Chief, Inspector General Yudhiawan, said that dozens of criminal acts of corruption were combined into three files. These include criminal acts of corruption related to physical work, banking and abuse of authority.
“There are 3 LPs (police reports) combined into one. There are 21 suspects, we are also combining these 3 LPs,” he said, in Makassar City, South Sulawesi, Tuesday (12/11).
Yudhiawan explained that in the physical work corruption case, the South Sulawesi Regional Police’s Ditreskrimsus investigated several cases, namely the construction of the 18 kilometer Sabang-Tallang road in North Luwu Regency by the PUTR Service of South Sulawesi Province in 2020. Furthermore, the construction of the Labukang Market by the Parepare City Trade Service in the 2019 fiscal year.
“The modus operandi is borrowing and using the company. PPK and PPTK do not control contracts, change specifications in the field, do not carry out work according to the contract or do not comply with work specifications and the use of managerial personnel does not comply with the contract,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the respective cases of alleged banking corruption include the granting of Bank BPD Sulselbar construction credit facilities to PT Aiwondeni Permai in 2020 and the granting of Bank BPD Sulselbar Sengkang Branch construction credit facilities to PT Delima Agung Utama in 2021.
Furthermore, the provision of construction working capital credit facilities at Bank Sulselbar Takalar Branch to PT Letebbe Putra Group in 2021-2022 and the provision of People’s Enterprise credit facilities (KUR) at Bank BRI Unit Mappasaile Pangkep Branch in 2019-2021.
Then, providing Bank BRI KUR facilities for the Takkallala Unit in Soppeng Regency in 2022-2023, abuse of authority to duplicate credit cards belonging to Bank BRI Kahu customers in Bone Regency in 2023, and providing Bank Mandiri SME Makassar Kartini credit facilities to the PT Eastern Pearl Flour Mils (EPFM) Cooperative 2018-2019.
In their actions, the suspects carried out an analysis of working capital credit that did not comply with the credit granting mechanism outside the branch’s working area and payment terms that were not debited.
“Apart from that, the credit facility is beyond its intended use and uses fictitious top-up documents and other required documentation for KUR disbursement requirements,” explained Yudhi.
Next, cases of alleged abuse of authority or position, namely levies of PPh 21 on State Civil Apparatus (ASN) recipients of payments for BPJS Health claims services at Lanto Daeng Pasewang Regional Hospital, Jeneponto Regency in 2017-2018 and procurement of goods handed over to the community in response to emergency situations. Covid-19 at the Makassar City Social Service in 2020 and management of agricultural tools and machinery at the UPTD for Agricultural Agribusiness Management in Maros Regency in 2023.
In the case of Lanto Daeng Pasewang Regional Hospital, officials deducted the receipts from claims services to health workers but did not deposit PPh 21, but instead the funds were deposited in personal accounts by falsifying BPJS claim deposit slips as if they had been paid.
Then, in the Covid-19 case, it was suspected that he had inflated the prices of Covid-19 relief goods in Makassar, and for machine tools in Maros, his method was selling and renting state-owned goods and not depositing the funds into the state treasury.
“So far, case handling for stage one has included 5 police reports (LP), preparations for sending files to the prosecutor’s office 7 LP, while calculating state losses (PKN) 16 LP and fingerprinting process 5 LP,” he said.
Yudhiawan said that in this criminal case, 21 people were named as suspects with their respective initials, AA, JP, MS, OA, EJ, AR, DM, BJ, MT, ZS, AM, KH, ISB, AMS, AF, RL , ED, OO, FA, NR and NS. Meanwhile, 453 witnesses were examined and 12 experts were examined.
In this case, the South Sulawesi Regional Police confiscated 350 documents as evidence, such as BPKB, land certificates and other important documents. The police also confiscated 14 four-wheeled vehicles, 10 10-wheeled vehicles or dump trucks, eight Forklip trucks, one cell phone, three laptops and IDR 2.29 billion in cash.
“In this case, the rescue of state funds (money and goods) was worth more than IDR 8.7 billion, the results of calculating state losses (PKN) were more than IDR 25.4 billion, potential state losses (AI) were more than IDR 59.4 billion, so the total was IDR 84 .8 billion more,” he said.
As a result of their actions, the suspects were threatened with Article 2 paragraph 1 subsidiary Article 3 of Law number 31 of 1999 as amended by Law number 20 of 2001 concerning the Eradication of Corruption Crimes in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) first of the Criminal Code.
“The threat of imprisonment is a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 20 years or life in emergency conditions, as well as a minimum fine of IDR 200 million and a maximum of IDR 1 billion,” he added. (MGN/I-2)
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What measures are being implemented by the South Sulawesi Regional Police to ensure transparency in public works projects following the recent corruption cases?
**Interview with Inspector General Yudhiawan, Chief of South Sulawesi Regional Police**
**Editor:** Thank you for joining us today, Inspector General Yudhiawan. Recently, your department uncovered 31 cases of corruption, involving 21 suspects. Can you give us a brief overview of how these cases came to light?
**Inspector General Yudhiawan:** Thank you for having me. The South Sulawesi Regional Police’s Criminal Investigation Department has been rigorously investigating these corruption cases over the past months. They involved various criminal acts, categorized mainly into three areas: physical work, banking, and abuse of authority. We discovered a systematic approach to these corrupt practices, which prompted us to consolidate multiple police reports into three main files.
**Editor:** That sounds quite extensive. Could you elaborate on some specific cases, particularly those related to physical work?
**Inspector General Yudhiawan:** Certainly. One significant case involves the construction of the 18-kilometer Sabang-Tallang road in North Luwu Regency. There were irregularities linked to the contractor’s adherence to the contract specifications. Another instance was the construction of Labukang Market, where the same patterns of mismanagement were observed. Essentially, we found that project managers often borrowed and used companies while neglecting proper oversight and compliance with contractual obligations.
**Editor:** Beyond physical work, what can you tell us about the banking-related corruption cases?
**Inspector General Yudhiawan:** In the banking sector, we identified several cases where credit facilities were improperly granted. For example, the Bank BPD Sulselbar extended construction loans to various companies without adhering to legal requirements. We’re also investigating cases where credit facilities were used beyond their intended purposes, which included the submission of fictitious documents for disbursement.
**Editor:** It sounds like there are some serious systemic issues at play. Moving on to the abuse of authority, can you describe some of the misconducts uncovered?
**Inspector General Yudhiawan:** Absolutely. We’ve seen instances where individuals exploited their positions for personal gain. One case involved improper deductions from health service payments at a hospital without depositing the relevant taxes, leading to personal enrichment. Another case includes the inflation of prices for Covid-19 relief supplies during a vulnerable time for the community. These actions not only violated trust but also devastated public resources.
**Editor:** Given the scale of these investigations, what steps is your department taking to ensure accountability and prevent future corruption?
**Inspector General Yudhiawan:** We are committed to thorough investigations and are already working on case preparations to ensure justice is served. Additionally, we are enhancing oversight mechanisms and collaborating with other government bodies to improve transparency and prevent such incidents from recurring in the future.
**Editor:** Thank you for your insights, Inspector General. We appreciate the work your team is doing to combat corruption in South Sulawesi.
**Inspector General Yudhiawan:** Thank you for highlighting these important issues. We will continue our efforts to uphold integrity and public trust in our institutions.