Revealed At The Semarang Corruption Court, Candidates For Village Apparatus In Demak Must Deposit Rp150-250 Million To A Broker

The trial of the alleged bribery case against a lecturer at UIN Walisongo Semarang at the Semarang Corruption Court/ANTARA

SEMARANG - The head of Cangkring Village, Demak Regency, Imam Jaswadi, who is a broker in the alleged bribery case in the selection of village officials in Gajah Subdistrict, has set a fee of IDR 150-250 million for candidates to be able to occupy the position of village secretary and hamlet head.

Public Prosecutor Sri Heryono said that the defendant Imam Jaswadi together with the defendant Saroni, who previously served as Deputy Chief of the Karanganyar Sector Police (Wakapolsek), managed to collect up to Rp. 3 billion in deposits from village officials.

The money deposits, which vary in size, come from 16 candidates for regional apparatus in eight villages in Gajah Subdistrict, Demak Regency. Of that amount of money, Rp. 830 million was handed over to two lecturers of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) of the State Islamic University (UIN) Walisongo Semarang, namely Amin Farih and Adib, who were the directors and chairman of the test committee in the selection of village officials.

"The handover will be in two stages, Rp720 million and Rp110 million respectively," he said in a trial led by Chief Justice Arkanu in a follow-up trial at the Semarang Corruption Court, Antara, Tuesday, August 23.

The prosecutor in his indictment also stated that Rp. 300 million from the deposit of village apparatus candidates was handed over by Amin Farih to the Deputy Dean of FISIP UIN Semarang Tholkhatul Khoir to be reported to the Dean of FISIP UIN Semarang Misbah Zulfa Elisabeth.

From the award of the selection money, Amin Farih and Adib, who were also tried in the same case, provided leaked answers to the village apparatus selection exam questions.

The crime of bribery in the selection of village officials in Demak Regency was revealed from the suspicions of the Chancellor of UIN Semarang, Imam Taufik, during an inspection during the selection exam for village head candidates in December 2021.

The Chancellor of UIN is suspicious of a number of participants who are able to complete the exam in a short time and get a score above 90.

From the results of coordination, continued the prosecutor, the chancellor stated that the implementation of the village apparatus selection test in Gajah Subdistrict was illegal or legally flawed.