KPK Turns Out To Have Sniffed Potential Corruption In New Student Admissions Through Independent Paths

Head of the News Section Ali Fikri/DOK Public Relations KPK

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has detected the potential for corruption that may occur during the admission of new independent students. Studies that led to the provision of recommendations have also been carried out.

"KPK prior to the arrest (Rector Unila Karomani, ed) had provided a recommendation and a KPK circular dated March 29, 2022 regarding the improvement of New Student Admission Management for the Independent S1 State Universities," said Head of the News Section Ali Fikri to reporters, Friday, 26 August.

The recommendation that started from this study, continued Ali, was made because of the many reports that were received by the KPK regarding the admission of new students through independent channels. However, he did not specify the type of complaint.

"This means that there has been a study by the Corruption Eradication Commission regarding how then the potential that might occur regarding this independent PMB or the non-regular route," he said.

The KPK emphasized that it also did not suddenly conduct OTT against the Chancellor of Unila. "We have taken precautions. We even gave direct recommendations in 2022," he said.

"What is certain is that what we then do is in accordance with the road map we have with three strategies, namely anti-corruption education, prevention, and prosecution," continued Ali.

Previously reported, the KPK named four suspects for alleged bribery of accepting new students at the University of Lampung in 2022. The determination of these suspects began with arrest operations carried out in Lampung, Bandung, and Bali. The suspects involved in this case are the Chancellor of the University of Lampung 2020-2024 Karomani ; Vice Chancellor I for Academic Affairs, University of Lampung Heryandi; Chairman of the Senate of the University of Lampung Muhammad Basri; and private sector Andi Desfiandi. In this case, Karomani is suspected of setting a price for prospective new students at his campus in the range of Rp. 100 million to Rp. 350 million when carrying out the Independent Selection for Entrance to the University of Lampung (Simanila). This request was made after Heryandi and Muhammad Basri personally selected the student's parents' ability to pay. One of the families of the prospective Simanila participants, Andi, then took the initiative to pay after his family was accepted as a student because of Karomani's assistance. He then handed over Rp150 million in cash in Lampung which was taken by a lecturer, namely Mualimin.

From his actions, it is suspected that Karomani managed to collect Rp603 million from Mualimin which was then used for personal purposes amounting to Rp.575 million. Meanwhile, from Muhammad Basri and Budi Sutomo who are the Head of the Planning and Public Relations Bureau of the University of Lampung, it is suspected that the total money received by Karomani reached Rp4. ,4 billion. This money is then transferred to savings deposits, gold bars, and some are still in cash.