Targeted By Prosecutors, Former Social Minister Juliari Batubara Explains The Selection Of The Cheapest Rice Social Assistance Transporter

JAKARTA - Former Social Minister Juliari P Batubara said that one of the considerations for the selection of distribution executors or transporters of Rice Social Assistance (BSB) was the cheapest price.

This statement was made by Juliari P Batubara when he was presented as a witness in the trial of the alleged corruption case of rice social assistance (bansos) for the Beneficiary Families of the Family Hope Program at the Ministry of Social Affairs in 2020 2021, with the defendant Muhammad Kuncoro Wibowo.

It started when the prosecutor questioned the meeting to determine the rice assistance transporter company on September 25, 2020. Juliari argued by saying he didn't remember it.

However, the former Minister of Social Affairs stated that his presence could be confirmed from the attendance list of the meeting.

"I don't remember sir, the meeting was sir. But if there is a list on the list, I will definitely have it, sir," Juliari answered during a trial at the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court, Wednesday, March 6.

Hearing this answer, the prosecutor again questioned by mentioning the names present at the meeting to determine the transporter company.

However, Juliari again argued that he did not remember him.

"There were witnesses explaining, sir, for example, Mr. Bambang Sugeng, Mr. Edi Suharto, Mr. Hartono Laras, Mr. Inspector General Mr. Dadang Iskandar also explained that a meeting was held to determine the transporter company was also present at that time, Mr. Adi Karyono, sir. The highest officials within the Ministry of Social Affairs, do you remember the activity?" said the prosecutor.

"I don't remember specifically sir, but if the meeting was in my meeting room, I would definitely attend, sir," answered Juliari.

The prosecutor then switched by questioning the results of the decision at the meeting. Juliari also said that the consideration of choosing two transporter companies in the meeting was a low price.

"Then sir, if the results of the meeting can be explained to us, sir? What you said earlier, maybe you don't remember for sure, but maybe something happened," asked the prosecutor.

"The point is, sir, what date meeting I honestly don't remember, sir. But the point is from the team to report that the appointed company PT BGR with the other PT DNR is a company that has carried out its term picking test and also in terms of its cheapest quote. That's it, sir. Therefore, at the meeting, we finally concluded that these two companies were the most suitable to execute the program," said Juliari.

"Because it's the cheapest, sir?" asked the prosecutor.

"The cheapest," answered Juliari.

After that, the prosecutor again asked about the ability of the selected transporter company. Juliari said his team had conducted a pick-up test on prospective BSB transporter companies.

"That's according to your assessment, in terms of capability, sir, facilities? Was it explained by Mr. Bambang Sugeng or Mr. Edi Suharto?" asked the prosecutor.

"As far as I remember, I couldn't recall for sure, sir, as far as I remember, it was explained by sir because they had already conducted a pick-up test in the field, sir, to several companies that submitted it, sir. Broadly speaking, sir, frankly, I don't remember anymore, sir," replied Juliari.

For information, there are three companies proposed to be the transporter of Rice Social Assistance (BSB) at the Ministry of Social Affairs in 2020-2021. The companies are PT Jalan Nugraha Ekakurir (PT JNE), PT Dos Ni Roha Logistik (PT DNR) and PT Bhanda Ghara Reksa (PT BGR).

Until finally, it was decided that PT DNR and PT BGR, which were the transporters of the Rice Social Assistance (BSB), considered the cheapest price.

Berikut ini, daftar penawaran harga dari tiga perusahaan untuk menjadi transporter;

1. PT JNE provides bids for the delivery fee of BSB for the area I I IDR 1,650.00/kg, region II IDR 2,000.00/kg and region III IDR 1,500.00/kg

2. PT DNR provides bids for BSB delivery costs for regions I, II and IIII IDR 1,500.00/kg

3. PT BGR provides bids for the delivery fee of BSB for Region I of IDR 1,400.00/kg, region II of IDR 1,450.00/kg and region III of IDR 1,350.00/kg