SYL Patok Tariffs To Ministry Of Agriculture Employees During Extortion

Deputy Chairperson Of The KPK Johanis Tanak at a press conference related to the Syahrul Yasin Limpo / PHOTO case: Wardhany Tsa Tsia-VOI

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) revealed that Syahrul Yasin Limpo set different rates for employees at the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) who are required to deposit monthly money. This practice was carried out while serving as Minister of Agriculture (Mentan).

Deputy Chairman of the KPK Johanis Tanak said the levy was quoted by Syahrul through two of his subordinates, Secretary General (Secretary General) of the Ministry of Agriculture Kasdi Subagyono and Director of Agricultural Equipment and Machinery of the Ministry of Agriculture Muhammad Hatta.

"SYL, KS, and MH ordered their subordinates to collect a sum of money within echelon I, director generals, heads of agencies to secretaries in each echelon I with a predetermined value of SYL ranging from US$4,000 to US$10,000," Johanis said at a press conference at the KPK's Merah Putih building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta, Wednesday, October 11.

Kasdi and Hatta collected the money through cash transfers, bank transfers, or goods. Johanis said, the source of the money used included the realization of the Ministry of Agriculture's budget which had been marked up.

Including requests for money from vendors who get projects at the ministry. The receipt of money through KS and MH as a representation as well as a confidant of SYL is carried out regularly every month using foreign currency denominations," he said.

Next, the money was used for Syahrul's personal interests. Among them are paying credit card installments to buy a Toyota Alphard car.

"So far, the money enjoyed by SYL together with KS and MH is around Rp. 13.9 billion and a more in-depth investigation is still being carried out by the investigative team," Johanis explained.

Regarding this amount, the Head of the KPK News Section, Ali Fikri, said that the tens of billions of money did not include the findings of Rp. 30 billion at Syahrul's official residence or elsewhere.

"This is of course outside what we have published from the results of searches in several locations," said Ali on the same occasion.

As previously reported, the KPK has officially named Syahrul, Kasdi, and Hatta as suspects. The determination was made after evidence was found during a forced search attempt.

From the search, the KPK found Rp30 billion in cash while searching Syahrul's official residence in Widya Chandra Complex, South Jakarta on Thursday, September 28. These findings were obtained in rupiah currency denominations, US dollars, and Singapore dollars.

In addition, the KPK team found Rp 400 million in cash while searching Hatta's house in the Jagakarsa area, South Jakarta, Sunday, October 1.