Ex-Child Fruit Becomes Suspect of Corruption of IDR 16 Billion, Minister PU Opens His Voice

Jakarta - Minister of Public Works (PU) Dody Hanggodo spoke out regarding the corruption case of a Rp16 billion project that ensnared officials in his ministry. He emphasized the importance of integrity for a public official.

Dody also emphasized that he did not want any employees at the lower level to be sacrificed in the case of bribery or corruption.

According to him, officials at the first level must also be held responsible if there is a violation under their authority. Dody rejected the old pattern which places all the blame on subordinates.

"That, right, is my form of commitment. I don't want to be like yesterday, just sacrificing the little children below. The young generation of PU must be the backbone of the PU Ministry in the future, their integrity is mandatory for me to take care of from today. There is no Eselon I who is wrong to keep saying 'it's my subordinates who did it', there is none," said Dody in a media briefing at his office, Jakarta, Friday, May 22.

He also ensured that he would not cover the ongoing legal process. Dody handed over the entire handling of the case to law enforcement officials.

"What happened there, how and so on, was asked to Mr. Jaksanya. I presented facts, data, based on what happened. I once again, the Minister of Public Works will not try to cover anything. When yesterday there was a search, I allowed my room to be searched," he said.

Even though there are officials who are dragged into legal cases, Dody ensures that the government's priority programs continue to run normally. He emphasized that food self-sufficiency supporting projects should not be disturbed.

"Don't worry, even if Eselon I is affected, the government's priority programs in the field of natural resources for food self-sufficiency in 2026 are mandatory and must be implemented to the maximum. There are no words that the Director General has a problem, the irrigation is stuck, there is none," said Dody.

"If the Director, Director General, Head of the Office, PPK officials are caught in the law, the program is stuck, stalled, that is the stupid, stupid, the wrong one is me as the minister. The government's priority program must be successful at any cost while still paying attention to its effectiveness and efficiency," he added.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, May 21, the Regional High Prosecutor's Office of Jakarta detained three former officials of the PU Ministry in a case of alleged corruption in the form of extortion, gratification or abuse of authority in several projects within the scope of the Ministry's Water Resources Directorate General.

"We have appointed the suspect with the initials DP as the General Director of Water Resources since July 2025-January 2026 in the case of alleged corruption in the form of extortion and/or bribery and/or gratification and/or abuse of authority in several projects at the Directorate General of Water Resources of the Ministry of Public Works," said Head of the Legal Information Section of the DKI Prosecutor's Office, Dapot Dariarma as quoted by ANTARA.

In addition, the Jakarta Attorney General's investigators also named a suspect against RS as the Secretary of the Directorate General of Construction and AS as the PPK in the alleged corruption case of the Implementation of the Routine Budget for the Secretariat of the Directorate General of Construction of the Ministry of PU.

The role of the suspect DP as the General Director of Water Resources is to carry out extortion, receive bribes and/or gratuities in the form of cash of more than Rp. 2 billion and two luxury cars in the form of CRV and Innova Zenix from several BUMN Karya and private parties in several projects under the Directorate General of Water Resources.

"Meanwhile, the role of the RS and AS has jointly engineered a fictitious project at the General Secretariat of Cipta Karya for the 2023 and 2024 periods with a state loss of at least more than Rp. 16 billion," he said.