Syahrul Yasin Limpo Will Be Charged With Extortion And Receiving Gratification Of IDR 44.5 Billion

Former Minister of Agriculture Syahrul Yasin Limpo (SYL) after being questioned by investigators at the KPK's Red and White Building, South Jakarta, Monday, October 30. (Tsa Tsia-VOI)

JAKARTA - The team of prosecutors for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has completed the case file for the alleged extortion and gratification of former Minister of Agriculture (Mentan) Syahrul Yasin Limpo.

Head of the KPK News Section Ali Fikri said Syahrul would soon be tried at the Jakarta Corruption Court. In the indictment, he will be charged with extortion and receiving gratuities of up to tens of billions of rupiah.

"The team of prosecutors charged with the act of jointly extorting Echelon I officials along with staff at the Ministry of Agriculture (Kementan) including receiving gratuities of Rp44.5 billion," Ali said in a written statement, Tuesday, February 20.

Ali has not detailed the contents of the indictment. Everything will be revealed by the prosecutor at trial.

His attitude will be opened in the first trial with the agenda of reading the indictment. The prosecutor's team is currently waiting for further information on the trial schedule in question," he said.

Previously reported, the KPK suspected that Syahrul had blackmailed his employees by requiring to pay monthly deposits with the help of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture Kasdi Subagyono and the Director of Agricultural Equipment of the Ministry of Agriculture Muhammad Hatta. The nominal that is pegged and must be deposited by echelon I-II employees is around 4,000-10,000 US dollars.

It is believed that the money collected does not only come from the realization of the Ministry of Agriculture's budget inflated or mark-ups but from vendors working on projects. The money is given in cash, transfers or goods.

The anti-corruption commission then suspected that the money Syahrul received was used for various personal interests. Starting from Umrah with other Ministry of Agriculture employees, buying cars, repairing houses to flowing to the NasDem Party with a value of up to billions of rupiah.