KPK Investigate Money Flow To Former South Buru Regent Winning Certain Contractors

Illustration of the KPK logo. (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is investigating the flow of money received by the former South Buru Regent, Tagop Sudarsono Soulisa, from the contractors who won the project in South Buru Regency, Maluku.

The cash flow was confirmed by three witnesses, namely an advocate from the Lima & Bintang Law Firm, Laurezius CS Sembiring; Secretary at Law Firm Lima & Bintang, Muji Nurjaroh; and former Site Manager of PT Dharma Bakti Abadi in 2013, Rismawan Adrianto. The three were examined on Tuesday, March 8 yesterday.

"Located at the Probolinggo Police Office at the Probolinggo City Police Office, the investigative team examined witnesses for the suspect TSS et al," said Acting KPK Spokesperson for Enforcement Sector Ali Fikri in a written statement, Wednesday, March 9.

In addition, the KPK also examined a suspect in the alleged bribe receipt, namely and Ivana Kwelju. He was examined as a witness to complete Tagop's file.

"All witnesses were present and their knowledge was confirmed, among others, related to the alleged flow of money for the TSS suspect for winning certain contractors in several work project activities at the South Buru Regency Government," he added.

Previously reported, the KPK had previously named Tagop along with three other people as suspects for alleged bribery, gratification, and Money Laundering (TPPU) related to the procurement of goods and services in South Buru Regency, Maluku in 2011-2016.

The recipients were Tagop Sudarsono Soulisa (TSS) and Johny Rynhard Kasman (JRK) from the private sector. Meanwhile, as the giver, namely Ivana Kwelju (IK) from the private sector.

In the construction of the case, the KPK explained that Tagop, who served as the Regent of South Buru for the period 2011-2016 and 2016-2021, was suspected from the beginning of his tenure having given more attention to various projects at the PUPR Office of South Buru Regency, including by specifically inviting the head of the department and the head of the community development department to come to the case. know the list and value of the package budget for each project work.

Tagop then recommends and unilaterally determines which partners can be won to work on projects, either through the auction process or direct appointment.

The KPK suspects that from the determination of the partners, Tagop asked for a sum of money in the form of a fee with a value of 7 to 10 percent of the value of the work contract, specifically for projects whose source of funds from the Special Allocation Fund (DAK) is determined that the fee is still between 7 and 10. percent plus 8 percent of the value of the employment contract.

The projects are the construction of the Namrole inner city road in 2015 with a project value of Rp. 3.1 billion, the improvement of the Namrole inner city road (hotmix) with a project value of Rp. 14.2 billion, the improvement of the Wamsisi-Sp Namrole Modan Mohe section (hotmix) ) with a project value of Rp. 14.2 billion, and the improvement of the Waemulang-Biloro toll road with a project value of Rp. 21.4 billion.

Upon receiving these fees, Togop is suspected of using his trusted person, namely Johny, to receive some money using his bank account and then transfer it to Tagop's bank account.

The KPK estimates that the value of the fee received by Tagop is around Rp. 10 billion, of which Ivana was given because he was chosen to work on one of the work projects whose budget was sourced from 2015 DAK funds.

It did not stop there, Tagop was also suspected of using Rp10 billion to buy a number of assets using the names of other parties with the intention of disguising the origin of the money received from contractor partners.