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 2020 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 the fingerprinting process is 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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How does the South Sulawesi Regional Police plan to ensure accountability for those involved in the corruption cases uncovered?
**Interview with Inspector General Yudhiawan, South Sulawesi Regional Police Chief**
**Interviewer:** Thank you for joining us, Inspector General Yudhiawan. Recently, the South Sulawesi Regional Police uncovered 31 corruption cases amounting to Rp. 84.8 billion. Can you provide an overview of these cases and what led to this investigation?
**Yudhiawan:** Thank you for having me. Our investigations revealed significant corruption across various sectors, particularly in physical construction projects and banking. We combined 31 separate reports into three main cases where 21 suspects were identified. The collaboration among departments was crucial in identifying these corrupt activities.
**Interviewer:** What types of corruption are most prevalent in your findings?
**Yudhiawan:** We’ve seen a range of corrupt practices, but primarily, they revolve around physical work contracts, banking malpractices, and abuse of authority. For instance, in the construction of a major road in North Luwu, there were significant discrepancies between the contracted work and what was actually delivered.
**Interviewer:** You mentioned the involvement of banks in some of these cases. Can you elaborate on those banking corruption cases?
**Yudhiawan:** Certainly. We’ve uncovered irregularities in credit approvals at Bank BPD Sulselbar, where companies received construction loans without complying with regulatory requirements. Instances included use of fictitious documents, and in several cases, banks issued loans outside their branches’ authorized areas.
**Interviewer:** That’s alarming. You also referred to abuses related to authority and COVID-19 responses. Can you tell us more about that?
**Yudhiawan:** Yes, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that some officials inflated prices for emergency relief goods, which is a grave abuse of public trust. Another case involved hospital officials who mismanaged funds meant for health worker payments, which were funneled into personal accounts instead of going through the proper channels.
**Interviewer:** What steps is the police taking moving forward to address these issues?
**Yudhiawan:** We are currently gathering evidence and preparing to compile our findings for prosecution. Our goal is to hold accountable not only those directly involved but also the systemic issues that allow such corruption to occur. We are committed to transparency and ensuring that the rule of law prevails in these cases.
**Interviewer:** Thank you for your insights, Inspector General Yudhiawan. It seems there’s much work to be done in combatting corruption in South Sulawesi.
**Yudhiawan:** Thank you for the opportunity to discuss these important issues. We will continue our efforts vigorously.