West Sumatra Prosecutor's Office Detains 12 Suspects Of Corruption In The Padang-Sicincin Toll Road

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PADANG - The West Sumatra High Prosecutor's Office (Kejati West Sumatra) has finally arrested 12 suspects in the alleged corruption case in paying compensation for the Padang-Sicincin toll road.

Dozens of suspects underwent alternate examinations starting at 10.00 WIB, until finally they were all brought to the Class II B Padang State Detention Center at around 18.01 WIB.

"Today we are carrying out a forced effort in the form of detaining suspects in accordance with Article 21 of the Criminal Procedure Code, where objective and subjective reasons have been met," said Assistant for Special Crimes at the West Sumatra Attorney General's Office, Suyanto, accompanied by Intelligence Assistant Mustaqpirin, in Padang, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, December 1.

The suspects detained by the investigators were the recipients of compensation, namely BK, MR, SP, KD, AH, RF, and SA who were also apparatus of the nagari government.

Then the other five suspects were SS with a background in the Nagari government apparatus, YW the government apparatus in Padang Pariaman, then J, RN, US from BPN as the land acquisition committee.

A suspect whose background is the recipient of compensation, namely SY, does not fulfill the investigator's summons on the grounds of illness, the West Sumatra Prosecutor's Office will again send a summons on Tuesday, December 7, next.

Before being detained, said Suyanto, 12 suspects had undergone a medical examination first and were accompanied by their respective lawyers.

"They will be detained for the next 20 days, meanwhile we will continue to speed up the process of filing cases," he said.

Previously, 12 people, one of whom was a woman, had the status of a suspect in the alleged corruption payment of compensation for the Padang-Sicincin toll road which was included in a national strategic project.

It is estimated that in this case the state suffered financial losses of up to Rp. 28 billion, because it was alleged that the money for the compensation for toll land that had been disbursed by the state was illegally claimed by people who were not entitled to receive compensation.

The determination of the suspects was carried out by the West Sumatra High Court on October 29, 2021, they were processed in 11 separate files.

The West Sumatra Attorney General's Office revealed that the case began when there was a Padang-Sicincin toll road construction project in 2020, so the state prepared money as compensation for land affected by development.

One of the affected areas is the Biodiversity Park (Kehati) in Paritmalintang, Padang Pariaman Regency, where compensation is received by each person.

After further investigation by the prosecutor's office, it turned out that the Kehati Park was listed as a regional asset and was recorded in the assets of the Padangpariaman Regional Financial Management Agency.

The land was included in the object when Padang Pariaman Regency took care of moving the Regency capital (IKK) to Parit Malintang in 2007.

Land acquisition in the IKK transfer activity at that time was accompanied by a statement of the release of rights from the land cultivators and compensation was carried out.

The land was finally controlled by the Padang Pariaman Regency Government by building the regent's office (2010), urban forest (2011), green open space (2012), official office (2014), including the Kehati Park (2014) based on the Regent's Decree covering an area of 10 hectares.

At that time, the construction and maintenance of the Kehati Park used the Ministry of Environment's Special Allocation Fund (DAK) and the Padang Pariaman Regional Budget.

The West Sumatra Attorney General's Office asserted that the investigation of the current case is purely related to the payment of land compensation, not the physical construction of the toll road project, so that it will not have an impact on the construction of the toll road project, let alone hinder its construction.

"This processing is part of the prosecutor's efforts to support the toll road project as a national strategic project, lest there be irresponsible parties who take personal benefits and harm state finances," he said.