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 the management of Agricultural Agribusiness 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 specific measures are being implemented by the South Sulawesi Regional Police to enhance accountability in response to the corruption cases uncovered recently?
**Interview with South Sulawesi Regional Police Chief Inspector General Yudhiawan on Recent Corruption Cases**
**Interviewer:** Thank you for joining us, Inspector General Yudhiawan. Can you provide an overview of the recent corruption cases uncovered by the South Sulawesi Regional Police?
**Yudhiawan:** Thank you for having me. We have recently uncovered 31 cases of corruption involving 21 suspects. These cases range from physical work to banking fraud and abuse of authority. We have taken significant steps in investigating these matters to ensure accountability.
**Interviewer:** Could you elaborate on some specific cases that have drawn attention?
**Yudhiawan:** Certainly. One notable case involves the construction of the 18-kilometer Sabang-Tallang road, where officials failed to control contracts and did not adhere to the specified work specifications. Additionally, in the banking sector, there have been multiple instances where credit was granted outside of established mechanisms, using fictitious documentation for disbursement, particularly with Bank BPD Sulselbar and Bank BRI.
**Interviewer:** That sounds very concerning. Can you explain how these frauds were facilitated?
**Yudhiawan:** The modus operandi included manipulation of credit applications and documentation. For instance, in some cases, credit facilities were granted beyond intended use, and officials bypassed controls, which allowed them to inflate costs and pocket funds. We also discovered issues with public servants failing to deposit taxes from health claims, redirecting such funds into personal accounts instead.
**Interviewer:** What protective measures are being put in place to prevent future occurrences of these abuses?
**Yudhiawan:** We are actively working with several agencies to improve oversight mechanisms. Our focus is on enhancing transparency and accountability in public financial management. We are also conducting training on ethical governance and strict enforcement of existing laws to deter such corrupt practices in the future.
**Interviewer:** Thank you for sharing these insights, Inspector General Yudhiawan. It is encouraging to hear about the steps being taken to combat corruption in South Sulawesi.
**Yudhiawan:** Thank you for having me. It’s crucial that we address these issues head-on and restore public trust in government institutions.
