KPK Detains Mayor Of Tasikmalaya, Suspected Of Bribery Of Special Allocation Funds

Mayor of Tasikmalaya Budi Budiman detained by the KPK (Photo: PR of the KPK)

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) detained the Mayor of Tasikmalaya for the 2012-2017 and 2017-2022 periods, Budi Budiman (BBD). Budi became a bribery suspect related to the management of the Tasikmalaya City Special Allocation Fund for the 2018 budget year.

"The KPK detained the BBD suspect for 20 days from 23 October 2020 to 11 November 2020 at the KPK Detention Center, ACLC Building, Kavling C1," said Deputy Chairman Nurul Ghufron in an online press conference broadcast on the KPK YouTube account, Friday, 23 October.

The case that ensnared Budi was the development of a bribery case for the proposed regional financial balancing funds in the 2018 Revised State Budget Bill which originated from an arrest operation (OTT) on May 4, 2019. He was also named a suspect on April 26, 2019.

As for the alleged bribery case, Budi is suspected of giving a bribe related to his application for the Tasikmalaya Special Allocation Fund (DAK). The total bribe he handed over to the Head of the Housing and Settlement Area Funding Development Section at the Directorate General of Financial Balance at the Ministry of Finance, Yahya Purnomo, amounted to Rp700 million.

This gift was given in stages, namely in August 2017 amounting to IDR 200 million, December 2017 amounting to IDR 300 million, and April 2018 amounting to IDR 200 million.

It is suspected that this money was handed over so that Yaya would help him get the DAK allocation and get priority funding for the City of Tasikmalaya.

For his actions, Budi was suspected of Article 5 Paragraph (1) letter a or letter b or Article 13 of Law Number 31 Year 1999 as amended by Law Number 20 Year 2001 concerning Eradication of Corruption in conjunction with Article 64 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code.

In this case, the KPK previously arrested and prosecuted six other people involved in the previous case. They are members of Commission XI DPR RI Amin Santono, private sector Eka Kamaluddin, and the Head of the Housing and Settlement Area Funding Development Section at the Directorate General of Financial Balance at the Ministry of Finance, Yahya Purnomo.

Furthermore, there are also contractors Ahmad Giast, members of the DPR for the 2014-2019 period Sukiman, and Plt Kadin of Public Works Arfak Mountains Regency, Natan Pasomba.

The six people have now been convicted by the Panel of Judges at the Corruption Court (Tipikor).