Former Police Chief Allegedly Involved In Case Of Embezzlement Of STKIP Bima Money

MATARAM - The West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Regional Police revealed the alleged involvement of a former police chief in handling a case of embezzlement of the budget at the Bima Teacher Training and Education College (STKIP) for the 2016-2019 period.

The Director of General Criminal Investigation (Dirreskrimum) of the NTB Polda Kombes Hari Brata said the alleged involvement of a former police chief was revealed from the results of the investigation.

"Yes, so he (the former police chief) withdrew the money," said Hari Brata, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, July 28.

In addition to the former police chief, he continued, there were allegations of involvement of a foundation staff from STKIP Bima.

But Hari has not been able to confirm the role of the two as additional suspects, but investigators will still dig up evidence to strengthen the allegations.

"We first prove the formal and material," he said.

According to him, evidence of criminal elements must be tested formally and materially. "If we prove this formal and material, then the mens rea (element of evil intent) sounds. From here we will pursue it first," he said.

Therefore, he stated that both of them are now witnesses. In-depth examination is still part of the investigator's efforts to uncover the role of additional suspects.

"Later on, if it fulfills the elements, we will make it a suspect. If not, we will look into it again," he said.

There are five suspects in this case. They have the initials HA, Head of STKIP Bima for the 2016-2020 period; MF, Chairman of the Bima IKIP Foundation for the 2019-2020 period; HM, Head of General Administration for the 2016-2019 Period; AA, Head of General Administration for the 2019-2020 Period; and AZ, Deputy Chair I for Academic Affairs for the 2016-2019 Period.

As suspects, they were charged with Article 374 of the Criminal Code Juncto Article 55 Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code which carries a penalty of five years in prison.

The case was handled by investigators based on the Police Report Number LP/360/XI/2020/NTB/SPKT, dated November 20, 2020. The report relates to the alleged criminal embezzlement of STKIP Bima's budget.

From the results of the first case in the investigation stage, the five suspects are indicated to have embezzled the private university's budget by submitting a request for a program plan that has nothing to do with lecture activities. They are strongly suspected of using the budget for personal purposes.

From the results of STKIP Bima's internal audit, it was found that losses amounted to Rp. 12.8 billion. This is based on the results of the examination of the program's accountability report file. The findings differ from the results of the investigator's calculation with a loss value of Rp. 19.3 billion.