The accused of Mukena Corruption and the West Lombok Regency Government's Gloves handed over Rp608 million in compensation.

Illustration of a sarung worn for prayer. (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - One of the defendants in the 2024 procurement of mukena and sarung corruption of the West Lombok Regency Government (Pemkab), West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), Ahmad Zainuri handed over Rp608 million in compensation for state financial losses to the public prosecutor (JPU).

The money was handed over by the defendant through his legal advisor in front of the panel of judges in the agenda for the examination of witnesses in the Corruption Court at the Mataram District Court, Friday.

Edy Rahman said that the submission of this money in lieu of state financial losses was part of the defendant's cooperative attitude in the trial process.

"So, as a form of cooperation in this case, at today's hearing of the witness examination, we handed over the money to compensate for state losses of Rp608 million in front of the panel of judges," he said, quoted by Antara.

Edy explained that his party would prove the allegations of the prosecutor against his client who enjoyed the money from the corruption of the procurement.

He emphasized that the money received by Ahmad Zainuri was not the result of corruption. The money was a replacement for the cost of goods that his client had made for the main thought assistance activity.

"The money received was in lieu of the purchase of goods made by our client. So, it is not the result of corruption," he said.

Because the funds were later linked to the ongoing case, the legal team chose to entrust them in the trial process.

"If it is not proven, then this trust will certainly be returned," he said.

In this case, the prosecutor's office has collected the results of the audit of the calculation of state financial losses (PKKN) from the West Lombok Inspectorate with a value of Rp. 1.7 billion.

Losses occurred in the process of distributing 10 procurement packages with a value of Rp. 200 million each. The distribution was carried out through the Social Empowerment Division of the West Lombok Social Affairs as many as eight packages and the rest through the social rehabilitation division.

The issue of corruption allegedly emerged from a survey of commodity prices and the preparation of own estimated prices (HPS). The suspicion is related to the inflation of commodity prices by referring to the West Lombok price unit standard (SSH) in 2023.

The budget for the 10 problematic procurement packages at the West Lombok Dinsos was revealed to have come from the West Lombok DPRD's main thoughts (pokir).