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 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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How do the recent corruption cases in South Sulawesi reflect on the overall integrity of public service and governance in the region?
**Interview with Inspector General Yudhiawan on Recent Corruption Cases in South Sulawesi**
**Interviewer:** Thank you for joining us today, Inspector General Yudhiawan. Recent reports indicate that the South Sulawesi Regional Police have uncovered 31 corruption cases. Could you provide us with an overview of these cases?
**Inspector General Yudhiawan:** Thank you for having me. Yes, our Criminal Investigation Department has indeed uncovered 31 corruption cases involving 21 suspects. These cases have been categorized into three primary areas: physical works, banking, and abuse of authority. This consolidation allows us to tackle these issues more efficiently.
**Interviewer:** That’s quite significant. Can you elaborate on the physical works corruption cases you mentioned?
**Inspector General Yudhiawan:** Certainly. One notable case involves the construction of the 18-kilometer Sabang-Tallang road in North Luwu Regency that was managed by the PUTR Service. Another involves the construction of Labukang Market in Parepare City. In these instances, we found irregularities such as the alteration of work specifications and lack of proper contract adherence, which undermines the integrity of public projects.
**Interviewer:** And what about the banking sector? What specific allegations have emerged?
**Inspector General Yudhiawan:** In banking, we are investigating several instances of improper credit facilitation. For example, the Bank BPD Sulselbar granted construction credits inappropriately to companies like PT Aiwondeni Permai and PT Delima Agung Utama. We identified that these cases involved a failure to follow standard credit granting procedures and using fictitious documents to justify the loans.
**Interviewer:** That’s alarming. You also mentioned abuse of authority. Could you explain how that plays into these cases?
**Inspector General Yudhiawan:** Yes, in terms of abuse of authority, we discovered cases involving State Civil Apparatus in various public service sectors. For instance, at Lanto Daeng Pasewang Regional Hospital, officials allegedly redirected funds from health claims into personal accounts instead of the state treasury, falsifying documents to mask their actions. Similarly, during the Covid-19 pandemic, there were cases of inflated pricing for relief goods.
**Interviewer:** It seems like there are systemic issues at play. What actions are being taken to address these corruption cases?
**Inspector General Yudhiawan:** We are committed to thorough investigations and have already initiated the first stage of legal processes for five of the reported cases. We’re working closely with the Attorney General’s office to ensure that those responsible are held accountable and that we can prevent such abuses in the future.
**Interviewer:** Thank you, Inspector General Yudhiawan. Your insights are invaluable, and we appreciate the efforts of the South Sulawesi Regional Police in tackling corruption.
**Inspector General Yudhiawan:** Thank you for the opportunity to share our work. We believe that transparency and accountability are crucial in restoring public trust.