East Lombok Prosecutor's Office Checks 58 Witnesses in Corruption Case for Book Procurement

MATARAM - The East Lombok District Attorney's Office (Kejari), West Nusa Tenggara, has examined at least 58 witnesses in the case of alleged corruption in the procurement of books at the local Education and Culture Office (Disdikbud).

Head of the East Lombok District Attorney's Intelligence Section, Ugik Ramantyo, said that the dozens of witnesses did not include all the investigation needs.

"There is still a need for another expert examination," he said in a statement received in Mataram, Antara, Thursday, April 23.

In addition, investigators in handling this case still need to strengthen the evidence from the auditor to trace the amount of state financial losses.

In this effort, the East Lombok District Attorney's Office coordinated with the NTB Inspectorate. Sugik said that his party had just sent a request that the loss audit could be carried out.

"Whether the provincial Inspectorate receives it from us, there has been no official reply," he said.

In early January 2026, Ida Bagus Swadharma in the position of Head of the Special Criminal Section of the East Lombok District Attorney's Office explained that this case was related to the procurement of Smart Assessment books, Local Content books, and Anti-Corruption Education books. All procurement budgets are sourced from the State Budget.

The witnesses who entered the series of examinations came from the school that submitted the procurement, the head of the Technical Implementation Unit (UPT) at the East Lombok Education Office and the private party that carried out the procurement.

He ensured that the examination of witnesses at this stage of the investigation was an effort by the prosecutor to obtain evidence in substantiating the findings of elements of unlawful acts from procurements that took place in 2021, 2023, and 2025.

When the case was at the investigation stage based on the Investigation Order of the Head of the East Lombok District Attorney's Office Number: PRINT-03/N.2.12./Fd.1/08/2025 dated August 7, 2025, the prosecutor recorded asking for the testimony of dozens of witnesses.

Apart from the school and the UPT service at the sub-district level, the Prosecutor's Office also asked for information from the heads of the school head working group (KKKS) in each sub-district in East Lombok Regency.

In the letter of request for information from the KKKS, it was revealed that this case was related to alleged corruption in the procurement of educational books at each elementary school level education unit in East Lombok.