South Sumatra Prosecutor's Office Names 2 New Suspects For Corruption Of The Sriwijaya Mosque

PALEMBANG - The South Sumatra High Prosecutor's Office has named two new suspects in the alleged corruption case of grant funds for the construction of the Sriiwijaya Mosque in Palembang City from the 2015-2017 South Sumatra Provincial Government Budget, which is now stalled.

Kasipenkum South Sumatra Prosecutor's Office Khaidirman said the two new suspects were former South Sumatra Regional Secretary Mukti Sulaiman and former Head of the South Sumatra Provincial Government Welfare Bureau Ahmad Nasuhi.

"Both of them were named suspects on June 16 and detained at the Pakjo detention center in Palembang for the next 20 days," he said, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, June 16.

Both were named as suspects after undergoing examination at the South Sumatra High Court since Wednesday morning. The two then came out wearing orange vests and didn't say much when asked by the media.

Khaidirman explained that the suspect Mukti Sulaiman was named a suspect for his involvement as the South Sumatra Regional Secretary for the 2013-2016 period as well as the TAPD team when planning a grant for the construction of a mosque.

While Ahmad Nasuhi was named a suspect for his involvement as a former Head of the Public Welfare Bureau (Kesra), the suspect is also currently serving as Kadinsos Musi Banyuasin.

"Both of them are charged with Article 2 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 20 of 2001 concerning amendments to Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning Eradication of criminal acts of corruption," he added.

The South Sumatra High Court has now named six suspects in the corruption case which is estimated to cost the state up to Rp130 billion, where previously four suspects had been detained since March 30, 2021.

The four were former Head of Sriwijaya Mosque Development Edi Hermanto, KSO PT Brantas Abipraya Ir. Dwi Kriyana, Head of Syarifudin's Auction Implementation Division and attorney for KSO Adipraya-PT Yodyakarya Yudi Wahyoni.

The Sriwjaya Mosque, which is predicted to be the largest mosque in Seasia, began construction in 2009 and has absorbed grant funds sourced from the South Sumatra Regional Budget for a total of IDR 130 billion in 2015-2017.

The mosque, which was built on nine hectares of land by the South Sumatra Provincial Government, required funds of up to IDR 668 billion, but its construction has only just completed the basic foundation and is now stalled.