Fugitive Corruption Convicts Grant Fund Arrested By West Papua Prosecutor's Office

DIU, DPO convicted in a corruption case in the procurement of fictitious cattle, left the West Papua High Prosecutor's Office to be submitted to the Class IIB Manokwari Prison, Monday. (ANTARA/Fransiskus Salu Weking)

MANOKWARI - The Attorney General's Team and the West Papua High Prosecutor's Office have arrested a convict in a corruption case of a grant fund with the initials DIU who is on the Sorong District Attorney's wanted list (DPO).

"This convict was arrested upon arrival at Soekarno-Hatta Airport on Sunday, March 17, 2024," said Head of the West Papua High Prosecutor's Office, Harli Siregar, in Manokwari, quoted by ANTARA, Monday, March 18.

He said DIU was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison by the Corruption Court at the Manokwari District Court which was upheld by the decision of the Jayapura High Court and the Supreme Court.

The Public Prosecutor of the Sorong District Attorney's Office has sent a letter of summons to the DIU four times, but the DIU ignored the summons.

"The convict did not ignore it so he was included in the DPO of the Sorong District Attorney," said Harli.

DIU acts as the Head of the Nusantara Livestock Group, Salawati District, Sorong Regency, to obtain grant funds from the West Papua Provincial Government.

DIU received an allocation of Rp200 million in cattle procurement grants sourced from the 2019 West Papua Province Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD).

"It turns out that the group is fictitious. The grant funds are used by the DIU for personal gain, resulting in a loss of state money of Rp. 200 million," said Harli.

During the investigation process, he said, the Sorong District Attorney's Office detained the DIU since September 15, 2021 and was sentenced to 1 year and six months in prison on May 24, 2022.

The Public Prosecutor of the Sorong District Prosecutor's Office appealed to the Jayapura High Court and then appealed to the Supreme Court on December 21, 2022, but the public prosecutor's appeal was rejected.

"The public prosecutor demands that DIU be sentenced to four years in prison and a fine of Rp. 50 million, subsidiary to six months in prison," said Harli Siregar.

For information, after arriving at Rendani Manokwari Airport, the convict's DPO was immediately sent to the Class IIB Penitentiary Manokwari.