Should Be Free, Head Of Health Meranti Misri Hasanto In Fact 'Business' Rapid Test Equipment Rp150 Thousand Per Unit

RIAU - Riau Police detained the Head of the Archipelago Health Service (Kadiskes) Meranti Misri Hasanto (52) alias MH after being named a suspect in embezzling the aid of a rapid antigen test kit.

Riau Police Chief Inspector General Agung Setya Imam Effendi said this case was handled by the Sub-Directorate III of the Criminal Investigation Unit. The suspect was charged with Article 9 of the Corruption Law in conjunction with Article 10 with a threat of 5-10 years in prison.

"Investigations will continue, including tracing the alleged involvement of other actors besides the suspect MH. Of course we will continue to investigate the case," said Agung as quoted by Antara, Monday, September 20.

The disclosure of MH's actions began after the police received information from the public regarding the misuse of the rapid test kits provided by the Pekanbaru Class II KKP office.

This rapid test kit should have been given to the public for free, but instead it was sold to residents for Rp. 150,000 or more for one device.

In order not to be suspected, the suspect then covered it up by making a false allocation report. This embezzlement was carried out by the suspect in September 2020. Some of the tools were even stored by the suspect in his clinic.

Agung said that the examination of the suspect was carried out on Friday, September 17.

"We are investigating the act of embezzling state goods for personal gain. We found that 3,000 rapid antigen test aids provided by the KKP office were misused and not distributed. We will calculate later how much the state has lost," explained the two-star general.

Previously, the alleged deviation from the budget for handling COVID-19 was investigated by the Meranti Islands Police. In the course of the investigation, the case was taken over by the Riau Police.

As emphasized by the Meranti Islands Police Chief AKBP Andi Yul Lapawesean Tenri Guling, some time ago, this case is still ongoing. "It has been taken over by the Riau Police. The investigation is under the Special Criminal Investigation Unit of the Regional Police," he said.

To note, this alleged illegal rapid antigen test was reported by one of the community organizations in the Meranti Islands, some time ago.

Among these are allegations of illegal rapid test and rapid antigen levies which contradict the Regent's Regulation (Perbup) Number 87 which is actually only applied to the BLUD RSUD but is instead used by Diskes employees as a basis for taking public money for their positions.