Joint Ministry Of Agriculture Officials Fulfill THR Request Of IDR 50 Million For SYL

JAKARTA - Witness to the case of the Minister of Agriculture for the 2019-2023 period Syahrul Yasin Limpo (SYL), Fadjry Djufry said officials at the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) had jointed funds to fulfill the request for the provision of holiday allowances (THR) for SYL and staff of Rp50 million.

Fadjry, who is the Head of the Ministry of Agriculture's Standardization Agency, said that the request for THR was made by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture for the 2021 period, 2023 Kasdi Subagyono twice, namely in May 2021 and April 2022.

"THR is for the Minister, aides, drivers, security guards, household officers, and so on. We distribute each of them," said Fadjry during a witness examination hearing at the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor), reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, May 22.

He explained that the THR money was divided into Rp. 10 million for SYL and the rest were divided equally to its staff, each of which received various amounts of money, such as Rp. 500 thousand to Rp. 1 million.

Fadjry explained that the source of the money for the joint distribution of THR SYL and staff came from the collection of official travel funds, office maintenance funds (gasoline and renovation), to fictitious official travel funds.

The THR money, he continued, was prepared by the Head of the General Section of the Secretariat of the Ministry of Agriculture's Agricultural Research and Development Agency, Bekti Subagja, and put in an envelope.

"Then only after that was given to the person concerned directly to his staff. The Minister was handed over to his aide," he said.

SYL was charged with extortion and received gratuities totaling Rp44.5 billion in cases of alleged corruption at the Ministry of Agriculture in the period 2020 to 2023.

The extortion was carried out with the Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture for the 2021 period, Kasdi Subagyono, and the Director of Agricultural Equipment and Machinery of the Ministry of Agriculture in 2023 Muhammad Hatta, who was also a defendant.

The two of them are coordinators of collecting money from echelon I officials and their staff, including to pay SYL's personal needs.