East Lombok Deputy Regent Examined By Prosecutor's Office For Alleged Corruption Of KUR Funds

East Lombok Deputy Regent Rumaksi (center) after undergoing examination as a witness in his capacity as Chairman of the NTB HKTI in the corruption case of banking KUR funds at the NTB Prosecutor's Office Building, Mataram, Wednesday (29/6/2022) night. ANTARA/Dhimas BP

MATARAM - The Deputy Regent of East Lombok, Rumaksi, is undergoing an examination at the West Nusa Tenggara High Prosecutor's Office regarding the handling of the alleged corruption case of people's business credit funds (KUR) at one of the conventional banks in the Central Lombok and East Lombok regions.

"The person concerned is being examined as a witness in his capacity as the chairman of the NTB HKTI (Indonesian Farmers Association)", said NTB Prosecutor's Office Spokesperson, Efien Saputra, in Mataram, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, June 29.

Rumaksi arrived at the NTB Prosecutor's Office at around 16.00 WITA. Alone, Rumaksi entered the Special Crimes Room (Pidsus) of the NTB Prosecutor's Office. The examination ended around 19.10 WITA.

Rumaksi told reporters that he was undergoing examination as a witness. He said there was no problem with the NTB HKTI in the process of distributing KUR funds to farming communities in East Lombok and Central Lombok.

"Clear is clear", he said.

Apart from the Deputy Regent of East Lombok, five people in uniform, male and female, appeared to appear before the prosecutor's office.

However, they completed the examination earlier than the Deputy Regent of East Lombok. They finished around 16.30 WITA.

After undergoing the examination, they tried to avoid the crowd of journalists by exiting the NTB Prosecutor's Office through the parking "basement" hallway.

Regarding the examination of the five people, Efien admitted that he did not know their origins. However, he ensured that the five of them underwent examination as witnesses, the same as the Vice Regent of East Lombok.

"Yes, examined as a witness. From where I do not know", he said.

In investigating this case, the prosecutor's office has not yet determined the role of the suspect. However, this case still revolves around a series of witness examinations and the collection of evidence.

This case was previously under the control of the East Lombok District Attorney. The NTB Prosecutor's Office takes over the handling, in 2021.

According to information, the Director-General of one of the ministries paid a visit to East Lombok Regency. This was carried out in August 2020.

During his visit, the state official met with farmers and provided information about the existence of the KUR assistance program through banking facilities.

From this information, collected 622 farmers from five villages in the southern part of East Lombok who received proposals to enter as recipients of KUR funds.

Those who accepted the proposal came from corn farmers. Each farmer is promised a cash loan of IDR 15 million for the area of land per hectare.

So from 662 farmers, the total land area included in the funding reached 1,582 hectares.

Continued among tobacco farmers. As many as 460 people were recorded in the data on proposals for aid recipients. In his promise, each farmer gets funds from KUR from IDR 30 million to IDR 50 million.

With such data collection, the farmers who are registered in the proposed data for KUR recipients are required to undergo a loan administration process. Several signed files.

In this process, the role of a third party, namely CV ABB and HKTI NTB, was involved. They act as government partners in the process of collecting data on farmers and managing KUR funds.

For the administrative purposes of corn farmers, they run the process of applying for KUR funds with the BNI Mataram Branch. Meanwhile, for tobacco farmers through BNI Praya Branch.

Regarding the existence of CV ABB as a third party, it is strongly suspected that it received a direct appointment from the ministry. Likewise with the involvement of the NTB HKTI.

Problems in this case also emerged when several farmers applied for loans to BRI. The application could not be processed because of the ongoing KUR arrears at BNI.

Their arrears also varied, ranging from IDR 15 million to IDR 45 million. The value depends on the ownership of the land area. However, until now, it was revealed that the farmers admitted that they had never received the credit funds.