Pessel Prosecutor's Office Names Corruption Suspect in Palm Oil Cooperative Funds Allegedly Losses Rp.5.7 Billion to the State

PADANG - The District Attorney's Office of Pesisir Selatan, West Sumatra, is currently investigating a case of alleged corruption in the misappropriation of palm oil cooperative funds which is alleged to have caused state finances of up to IDR 5.79 billion.

"It is suspected that the use of palm oil cooperative funds has been misappropriated, causing state financial losses of up to IDR 5.79 billion", said Pessel Prosecutor's Office Head, Reymund Hasdianto Sihotang, in Padang reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, December 14.

The state loss value was obtained based on the results of an audit requested by the prosecutor's office to the West Sumatra Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP).

The case began when a special palm oil cooperative named Sukali received a revolving fund loan from the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Cooperative Revolving Fund Management Institution (LPDB-KUMKM) in 2014.

The amount of revolving funds provided by the LPDB-KUMKM, which incidentally is a work unit under the Indonesian Ministry of Cooperatives, to the Sukali Cooperative is IDR 6 billion.

"During our investigation, we found indications that the money that should have been used for the benefit of palm oil cooperatives, such as purchasing fresh fruit bunch seeds and others, was in fact used for personal gain", he explained.

Cooperative funds are suspected of being used not by the provisions and designations, and their use cannot be accounted for.

After carrying out the investigation process since April 2022, the Pessel Attorney Team finally named one name as a suspect, namely the Head of the Sukali Cooperative with the initials M (59).

The prosecutor's office determined the status of the suspect on Monday, December 12 and immediately detained the suspect M.

The prosecutor charged the suspect with Article 2 or Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of the Law on Corruption Eradication.

Reymund said that there may be additional suspects in the case because the investigation is still ongoing.

"The investigation is still ongoing until now by examining witnesses and gathering the necessary evidence", he said.

So far, the investigative team has examined more than twenty witnesses and confiscated a number of the necessary documents.