Aceh Regional Police Name 3 Suspects for Corruption in COVID-19 Funds which Cost the State IDR 7.2 Billion

Director of Special Criminal Investigation of the Aceh Police, Kombes Winardy. BETWEEN/HO-Bidhumas Aceh Police

ACEH - Investigators from the Aceh Regional Police's Special Criminal Investigation Directorate have named three people as suspects in corruption in COVID-19 funds in the case of providing sinks or hand washing stations in schools with state losses reaching IDR 7.2 billion.

Director of Special Criminal Investigation at the Aceh Regional Police, Kombes Winardy, said that the suspects were named after investigators found evidence of their involvement.

"There are three people who have been named as suspects in providing hand washing stations or school toilets throughout Aceh. And it is possible that there could be more suspects," said Winardy in Banda Aceh, as reported by Antara, Tuesday, September 5.

Three people were named as suspects, namely RF as Budget User (PA), ZF as Activity Technical Implementation Officer (PPTK), and ML as procurement official.

"The procurement of this sink was carried out by the Aceh Education Service during the COVID-19 pandemic. The procurement budget came from the COVID-19 refocusing funds allocated in the 2020 APBA," he explained.

The former Head of Public Relations of the Aceh Regional Police said that investigators had also received the results of calculating state losses from the Aceh Representative Development Financial Monitoring Agency (BPKP).

The state losses resulting from the alleged criminal act of corruption in the procurement of sinks or hand washing facilities reached IDR 7.2 billion, out of a procurement value of IDR 43.7 billion.

"The state's losses are calculated from the lack of volume and quality of work to build hand washing stations at SMA, SMK and SLB, throughout Aceh. The total budget is IDR 43.7 billion with 390 work packages," said Winardy.

The Aceh government, through the Aceh Education Service, in the 2020 fiscal year procured 390 packages of portable hand washing stations or sinks with a value of IDR 43.7 billion.

The budget for the sink procurement comes from COVID-19 refocusing funds. These sinks are intended for high schools, vocational high schools and special schools throughout Aceh Province.

The mechanism for determining the winner of the procurement project is carried out using a direct procurement system. Each procurement package ranges from IDR 100 million to IDR 200 million.