North Hulu Sungai Regent Inactive Called Witness Receives Project Deposit Reaches IDR 1 Billion

PHOTO VIA BETWEEN

BANJARMASIN - The accused, former Acting Head of the Hulu Sungai Utara (HSU) Public Works, Spatial Planning and Land Agency (HSU) Maliki, said in the trial of the irrigation project corruption case if the inactive HSU Regent Abdul Wahid received a project deposit of up to Rp1 billion.

"At least I have submitted an accumulative fee of IDR 1 billion to Abdul Wahid," Maliki said while testifying as a defendant at the Banjarmasin Tipikor District Court, South Kalimantan, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, March 23.

Maliki, who has a long career in Water Resources (SDA) at the HSU PUPRP Office, admitted that he knew of a project fee for the HSU Regent since 2013.

In fact, since 2017 he has made a list of work projects and potential tender winners.

In his testimony, Maliki said that from 2013 to 2016, the fee charged to the contractors who won the project auction continued to increase from year to year.

"On average project winners are asked to submit a fee of 7 percent of the contract value, 5 percent for the Regent and 2 percent for us. This value continues to increase to 13 percent in 2020 to 15 percent in 2021," he said.

After examining the defendant, the Chief Justice Jamser Simanjuntak stated that the trial would continue on Wednesday (30/3) next week with the agenda of reading the demands by the KPK Public Prosecutor.

Maliki sits as a defendant after being caught red-handed by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) receiving hundreds of millions of fees from two contractors who won the SDA project for the PUPRP HSU Office.