Checking The Director General Of Social And Social Security, KPK Investigates The Process Of Determining Covid-19 Social Assistance Partners

KPK (BETWEEN)

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) explores the stages of the process of determining partners in the COVID-19 social assistance distribution project (bansos) in the Jabodetabek area.

This deepening was carried out when the KPK examined the Director General of Social and Social Security for the Ministry of Social Affairs, Pepen Nazaruddin, as a witness in the bribery case for social assistance procurement that ensnared former Social Minister Juliari Peter Batubara.

"The Ministry of Social Affairs will explore the knowledge regarding the processes and stages in determining the partners for the social assistance distribution project in the Jabodetabek area," said Acting KPK spokesman for prosecution Ali Fikri in his written statement, Thursday, January 14.

Not only Pepen, anti-graft investigators also summoned and conducted investigations on Ubayt Kurniawan, President Director of PT. Famindo Meta Communications as a witness.

During the examination, investigators studied the preparation and implementation of a cooperation contract with the Ministry of Social Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia in carrying out the distribution of Social Assistance in the Jabodetabek Region in 2020.

Previously reported, the KPK named a number of suspects in connection with the alleged corruption case of social assistance (bansos) food packages for the handling of COVID-19 in the Jabodetabek area including the non-active Social Minister Juliari Batubara.

Apart from Juliari, the KPK also named four other suspects, namely the Commitment Making Officer at the Ministry of Social Affairs (PPK) MJS and AW as the recipient of the bribe and AIM and HS as the giver of the bribe.

This case began when Juliari appointed two commitment-making officials (PPK) Matheus Joko Santoso and Adi to carry out this project by directly appointing partners. The KPK suspects that it was agreed that there was a fee from the work package that partners had to pay to the Ministry of Social Affairs.

There is also a fee for each COVID-19 social assistance package agreed by Matheus and Adi of IDR 10,000 from a value of IDR 300 thousand.

Matheus and Adi then made work contracts with several suppliers as partners for providing social assistance in May-November 2020. The partners chosen were AIM, HS, and PT Rajawali Parama Indonesia alias PT RPI which allegedly belonged to Matheus and whose appointment was known to Juliari.

In the first phase of the distribution of social assistance, a fee of IDR 12 billion is suspected. Matheus gave around Rp. 8.2 billion in cash to Juliari through Adi which was then used to meet personal needs.

In this silent operation, the KPK also confiscated evidence in the form of money that had been prepared from the bribes, namely AIM and HS in one of the apartments in Jakarta and Bandung. Rp14.5 billion was kept in a number of suitcases and bags and consisted of rupiah denominations and foreign currency.