Tapin Dam Corruption Case, South Kalimantan Prosecutor's Office Examines Piani Sub-district Head

Tapin Dam in Pipitak Village, Piani District, Tapin Regency, South Kalimantan Province. ANTARA/Bayu Pratama Syahputra

BANJARMASIN - The South Kalimantan High Prosecutor's Office (Kejati Kalsel) investigated the Piani Sub-district, Tapin Regency, initials M to investigate the alleged criminal act of corruption in the Tapin Dam project.

"Special Crime Investigators are questioning the witness regarding his knowledge of the local area where the Tapin Dam is located," said the Head of the Legal Information Section (Kasi Penkum) of the South Kalimantan Prosecutor's Office, Romadu Novelino, in Banjarmasin, Wednesday, June 15.

Novel mentioned that the stages of land acquisition to land acquisition steps for the construction of the Tapin Dam were carried out from 2015 to 2020.

For this reason, investigators want to know from the information of the Piani Camat in an effort to find legal facts regarding the alleged corruption in land acquisition in the National Strategic Project (PSN) in Tapin Regency.

A total of five witnesses were questioned by the South Kalimantan Prosecutor's Office investigators. Previously, four landowners in Piani Sub-district whose lands were acquired were also investigated.

"There are still many witnesses who will be summoned. The estimated state losses are still being calculated," explained Novel.

Based on the Investigation Order of the Head of the South Kalimantan High Prosecutor's Office Number: Print -02/O.3/Fd.2/05/2022 which was signed by the Head of South Kalimantan's Kajati Mukri, 10 investigators were ordered to carry out an investigation into the alleged corruption case of the Tapin Dam project. The dam was inaugurated by President Joko Widodo on February 18, 2021.

The Tapin Dam project, which is located in Pipitak Village, Piani District, Tapin Regency, South Kalimantan Province is a multi-year project from 2015 to 2020 with a budget ceiling of almost Rp. 1 trillion. The goal is to increase water storage capacity in order to realize water and food security in Indonesia.