3 Expert Witnesses Presented By Padang Attorney's Office To Investigate Allegations Of Corruption In The Construction Of A Cultural Building

Physical project in West Sumatra Cultural Park which is being investigated by the Padang Kejari for alleged corruption/ANTARA

PADANG - The Padang District Attorney, West Sumatra (West Sumatra) will immediately examine experts in the continuing process of the alleged corruption case of the West Sumatra cultural building construction project (continued) in the West Sumatra Cultural Park with a budget ceiling of more than Rp. 31 billion.

"In this case, we will examine a number of experts in order to continue the process of investigating the case, which is planned for this week," said Head of the Special Crimes Section of the Padang Attorney's Office Therry Gutama in Padang, Antara, Wednesday, May 11.

He explained that there are three experts that will be summoned by his party, namely experts for calculating state losses, in the field of procurement of goods and services, as well as physical and construction. "This expert examination is to clarify and find bright points in the case, as well as to make light of the criminal acts of corruption that occurred," he said.

While in the investigation process so far, he said, the prosecutor's office has examined more than 20 witnesses from various backgrounds.

Starting from the State Civil Apparatus (ASN) at the Department of Highways, Cipta Karya and Spatial Planning (BMCKTR) of West Sumatra, planning consultants, supervision, and implementing contractors.

Therry said that the case began with a public report received by the Padang Kejari, then followed up with the investigation stage.

From a series of investigation processes that have started since February 24, 2022, the team finally concluded that there was an element of a criminal act so that the case process was raised to the investigation stage on March 30, 2022.

The case relates to the physical construction of buildings in the advanced cultural building project for the 2021 budget year with a ceiling of Rp. 31 billion.

"We found that there were jobs that were not in accordance with the contract, so there were indications of state financial losses," said Therry.

Several irregularities were found, such as the use of building materials that use imported products, so that they are not in accordance with the Presidential Instruction to use domestic products.

"The implementers use products imported from abroad with higher prices, even though there are local products with the same quality at lower prices," he also said.

In addition, there were also allegations of irregularities in the auction and project construction stages at the West Sumatra Highways, Cipta Karya and Spatial Planning (BMCKTR) Office.

As a result of these problems, until now, the construction of building projects that are single year in nature have been stalled and neglected.

The construction of the building did not go according to plan and the contract was terminated at 8.1 percent, while payments have been disbursed for 28 percent of the work with a value of Rp. 8 billion.

The Padang Attorney General's Office emphasized that it would thoroughly investigate the case, and ensnare anyone who was guilty and had harmed the state's finances.