Two Of Juliari Batubara's Bribery Have Their First Session Tomorrow

Illustration / Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Two defendants in the bribery case for the provision of social assistance (bansos) COVID-19, Harry Sidabukke and Ardian Iskandar M, will undergo the first trial on Wednesday, February 24 tomorrow. Both of them were bribes to former Social Minister (Mensos) Juliari Peter Batubara.

"The inaugural hearing with the agenda of reading the indictments of the two defendants is scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, February 24, 2021 at around 09.00 WIB," said Acting KPK spokesman for prosecution Ali Fikri in a written statement, Tuesday, February 23.

This trial was held at the District Court for Corruption Crimes (Tipikor), Central Jakarta. "The prosecutor of the Corruption Eradication Commission has received the determination of the day of trial in the case of alleged bribery corruption of the Ministry of Social Affairs Social Assistance in 2020," he said.

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.

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 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.