Regarding Budget Corruption Cases, East Lombok PDAM: Ready To Support The Prosecutor's Office

Legal illustration (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - East Lombok Regional Drinking Water Company (PDAM), West Nusa Tenggara supports the prosecutor's steps to investigate cases of alleged corruption. Especially corruption in budget management in 2019.

"We should be ready and support the prosecutor's office. We are also open about this issue. Please, we don't cover anything up. In fact, we are happy to be corrected, sometimes we lose control, so we need to be reminded," said Acting Director (Plt.) President Director of PDAM East Lombok Marhaban quoting Antara.

Regarding the investigation of the case, he admitted that he had asked the old directors for clarification.

"I had time to call old officials. According to them, it doesn't feel like anything was engineered, everything is in accordance with the procedure. That's to my knowledge, even though I didn't participate there," he said.

At the momentum of this case rolling, Marhaban admitted that he still holds the position of Head of the East Lombok Public Works and Spatial Planning (PUPR).

After retiring from office in 2022, in mid-2023 Marhaban was appointed as Acting Director of PDAM East Lombok.

"So, what is clear is that the matter was found before I took office," he said.

The East Lombok Kejari in handling the case coordinated with the inspectorate. The goal is to trace potential state losses.

Head of the East Lombok Kejari Efi Laila Kholis previously stated that the handling of this case was still ongoing at the investigation stage.

While waiting for the results from the inspectorate, the prosecutor's office collected data and information.

The alleged corruption case in the PDAM body was initially handled by the NTB Prosecutor's Office. Cases come from public reports.

In the report that came in at the end of June 2023, the prosecutor's office accepted allegations of corruption on a number of work items that used the PDAM budget.

The work items include physical projects supporting low-income community facilities (MBR) in Suela District, East Lombok Regency for the 2019 fiscal year.

There are also allegations of fictitious project work, purchases of accessories and materials from used goods that do not meet the standard budget plan (RAB).

With this report, the NTB Prosecutor's Office had conducted a review process. However, for handling efficiency, the NTB Prosecutor's Office transferred the case to the East Lombok Kejari.