AGO Records State Losses Related To Land Mafia Cases Of IDR 1.4 Trillion

JAKARTA - The Attorney General's Office noted that corruption cases related to the land mafia during the period 2020 to 2022 had caused state financial losses of up to Rp1.4 trillion.

"The land mafia is handled by the special crime division (pidsus) throughout Indonesia," said the head of the AGO's Legal Information Center, Ketut Sumedana, in a written statement quoted by Antara, Tuesday, June 14.

He explained, the value of state losses came from 83 cases that were being handled, 35 cases were still under investigation, 34 cases were at the investigation stage, 9 cases were at the prosecution stage, 4 cases were at the legal action stage, and 1 case was at the execution stage.

Sumedana said there were 10 high prosecutors (kejati) currently handling land mafia cases through special criminal offenses, namely the West Sumatra Prosecutor's Office, the DKI Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, the Central Java Attorney's Office, the DI Yogyakarta Prosecutor's Office, the NTT Prosecutor's Office, the West Sulawesi Prosecutor's Office, the Central Sulawesi Attorney's Office, the Sulawesi Attorney's Office. South, Maluku Prosecutor's Office, and Gorontalo Prosecutor's Office.

According to him, the land mafia case has attracted the public's attention because the value of the loss is relatively large, such as corruption in the management of the West Manggarai Regency government's assets in the form of a 30-hectare land with state losses of around Rp. 1.3 trillion.

"The handling stage is currently waiting for the decision of the cassation. This case was proven in the district court and the high court," said Sumedana.

The Gorontalo Prosecutor's Office handled a corruption case in land acquisition for the construction of the Gorontalo outer ring road with a state loss of Rp. 43.356 billion.

In this case, he said, there are three suspects who have named four suspects, one of whom has been sentenced to prison, namely Asri Wahyuni Banteng as KPA for the Gorontalo Provincial Government Bureau. The other three are still on trial.

Next, the South Sulawesi Prosecutor's Office investigated the case of abuse of authority in the issuance of the Mapongka Forest Area Certificate, Tana Toraja Regency which cost the state Rp. 9.592 billion.

The case, said Ketut, is still ongoing in court with two defendants, namely Mendo Allo Rante as Head of the Tana Toraja Land Procurement Section and Allo as Head of the Tana Toraja BPN Measurement and Registration Section.

In addition, there are two corruption cases handled by the Maluku Attorney General's Office. The first case relates to corruption in land acquisition for the construction of a PLTMG in Buru Regency with a loss of IDR 6.1 billion. Meanwhile, the second case is related to land acquisition in Tawiri Country for the construction of the Maluku Lantaran XI Pier which cost the state IDR 3.2 billion.

In the Special Region of Yogyakarta, the local attorney general's office is investigating a corruption case in land acquisition by the Technical Service Unit (UPT) of the Yogyakarta Education and Culture Radio Media Development Center (BPMRP) at the Ministry of National Education in the 2013 budget year with a loss of IDR 5.641 billion.

"There are two suspects, the initials NA and AR," he said.

The next corruption case was handled by the Central Java Prosecutor's Office, irregularities in the payment of land purchases for the construction of a Bulog warehouse in Grobogan Regency. Based on the BPKP audit of Central Java Province, the case cost the state Rp4,999 billion.

Furthermore, the West Sumatra Prosecutor's Office handled a corruption case in the payment of compensation for land acquisition for a toll road in a biodiversity park owned by the Padang Regency Government.

Two other Attorney General's Offices, namely the West Sulawesi Prosecutor's Office, handled corruption in the issuance of certificates in the construction of gas stations in a forest area in the Tadui Village area, Mamuju Regency. Meanwhile, the Prosecutor's Office of Central Sulawesi investigated a corruption case in land acquisition at the General Administration Section of the Regional Secretariat of Prigi Moutong Regency in 2015-2016.

"In Central Sulawesi, suspects AR, ZA, and RA have harmed the state's finances in the amount of Rp. 4.144 billion. In that case, there has been a refund of state losses of Rp. 2 billion," said Sumedana.