KPK Cancels Inspection Of Ihsan Yunus Regarding Bribery Case For Bansos Procurement

KPK Building (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) canceled its examination of the former Deputy Chairman of Commission VIII of the House of Representative (DPR) Ihsan Yunus today. Acting KPK spokesman of Prosecution Division Ali Fikri said Ihsan was not present because he had not received a summons as a witness.

"The investigation is planned to be rescheduled because witnesses have not received the summons," Ali said in a written statement, Tuesday, January 27.

In this examination, Ihsan will actually be examined as a witness for the suspect Adi Wahyono (AW) who is a commitment making officer (PPK) at the Ministry of Social Affairs.

It is known that when he served as Deputy Chairman of Commission VIII DPR or before being rotated to Commission II, Ihsan's name was often associated with this social assistance (bansos) bribery case.

In this case, the team of investigators examined businessman Muhammad Rakyan Ikram as a witness to this case. During the examination, the investigating team searched for Rakyan who based on information was Ihsan's younger brother regarding his company's participation in working on social assistance work packages for the Jabodetabek area in 2020 at the Ministry of Social Affairs.

Not only examining his younger brother, KPK investigators have also ransacked Ihsan's parents' house in East Jakarta. During the search, the team of investigators confiscated communication tools and a number of documents related to the alleged bribery case for the provision of social assistance.

There is a possibility that today's investigation will be carried out by a team of investigators to find out what items have been confiscated and Ihsan's connection with the bribery case for social assistance. Moreover, Commission VIII DPR, which has a scope of duties, one of which is in the social sector with the Ministry of Social Affairs' partners.

Previously, 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 officers (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. As for the fee for each COVID-19 social assistance package that Matheus and Adi agreed to, it was 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 Rajawali Parama Indonesia LLC alias RPI LLC 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 IDR 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. IDR 14.5 billion was kept in a number of suitcases and bags and consisted of rupiah denominations and foreign currency.