Corruption in the Bawaslu Arfak Mountains Grant of Rp4.2 Billion, the Police Names 2 Suspects

West Papua Police have named two suspects in a case of alleged corruption of grant funds at the Pegunungan Arfak Regency Bawaslu with a total state loss of Rp4.297 billion.

Kasubdit III Tipidkor Ditreskrimsus Polda Papua Barat AKBP Rangga Abhiyasa di Manokwari, Jumat, mengatakan tersangka berinisial JPR merupakan Sekretaris Bawaslu Pegaf atau pejabat pembuat komitmen (PPK) dan MY selaku bendahara.

He said the total election supervision grant funds managed by the Arfak Mountains Bawaslu (Pegaf) was approximately Rp13.231 billion, of which Rp4.29 billion could not be accounted for.

The grant funds, he said, were allocated by the local regency government in two budget periods for election supervision activities, namely the 2019-2020 period of Rp. 11 billion and the 2021 period of approximately Rp. 2.231 billion.

The realization of grant funds for the 2019-2020 period only reached IDR 6.187 billion, so there is still a balance of IDR 4.813 billion, but the two suspects did not report to the Chairman of the Bawaslu Pegaf to be returned to the state treasury.

"Of the remaining budget, as much as Rp3,193 cannot be accounted for by the two suspects," he said.

According to him, the two suspects informed the Bawaslu Pegaf Commissioner that the grant funds for the 2019-2020 period had been absorbed 100 percent, so that an additional grant fund for the 2021 period was submitted.

The use of the second period grant funds was recorded at only Rp1.127 billion out of the Rp2.231 billion allocated by the local government, leaving a budget of Rp1.104 billion, but the two suspects did not report it.

"The first and second grant funds, there is a remainder, but it is not returned to the state treasury. They misused it for personal interests," he said.

Currently, he said, the police have seized a number of evidence obtained from the misuse of the 2024 Pilkada supervision grant funds, including one piece of land, three buildings, and one four-wheeled vehicle.

Both suspects were charged with Article 2 Primer paragraph (1) in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001 or Article 603 of the Criminal Code, and subsidier Article 604 of the Criminal Code.

"The evidence that we seized from the suspect JPR is three buildings and one piece of land, while the suspect MY is one car unit," he said.

He admitted that handling the case of alleged corruption in grant funds at the Arfak Mountains Bawaslu took quite a long time because of the difficult geographical conditions in collecting complete materials and evidence.

The West Papua Regional Police's Tipidkor Ditreskrimsus investigators must also ensure that all materials and evidence in the case are complete so that there is no loophole for the suspect to apply for a pretrial.

"We have conducted an investigation with the West Papua BPKP and examined ten witnesses, so it can be concluded that only two suspects," said Rangga.