Revealed, Juliari Batubara Is Called A Target Of IDR 35 Billion From The Covid-19 Social Assistance

Former Minister of Social Affairs Juliari Batubara (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The former Minister of Social Affairs, Juliari P Batubara, is said to be targeting IDR 35 billion in revenue from the procurement of the COVID-19 social assistance package at the Ministry of Social Affairs.

"In your BAP (Report of Investigation) No. 78, you received a message from Mr. Adi that he said he and Kukuh would collect IDR 35 billion according to Juliari P. Batubara's request, then you could only collect IDR 14.7 billion, correct?", asked the KPK public prosecutor, M Nur Azis, at the Jakarta Corruption Court, reported by Antara, Monday, March 8.

"Yes, I gave the fee logbook to Mr. Adi and Mr. Adi handed it over to the Minister", replied the Commitment Maker (PPK) for the procurement of COVID-19 basic food assistance at the Directorate of Social Protection for Social Disaster Victims of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Matheus Joko Santoso.

He testified for the two defendants, namely for Harry Van Sidabukke, who was charged with bribing Juliari worth IDR 1.28 billion, and Ardian Iskandar Maddanatja, who was charged with giving bribes worth IDR 1.95 billion for the appointment of a company providing social assistance for the COVID-19 staple food.

Adi Wahyono is the Head of the General Bureau of the Secretariat General of the Ministry of Social Affairs, as well as the Proxy of Budget Users for the Work Unit of the Ministry of Social Affairs in 2020 and Commitment Making Officer for the provision of COVID-19 basic food assistance.

"I was summoned by the Minister and asked for a fee of IDR 10,000 per package to be provided by all providers", said Adi, who was also a witness via a video conference connection.

According to him, in the first phase of procurement, many vendors could not meet the quota target that was planned so that the time was delayed.

"At the beginning, I was told by Pak Kukuh Ari Bowo (the minister's special staff) if there was a request from the Minister regarding the term fee or whatever it was clear that there was a request. Yes, I was shocked and confused because I was appointed to carry out the work", he said.

However, he admitted that he did not reject or confirm the request. "I only reported to the Director-General and the Secretary-General, who conveyed the Minister directly and Sir Kukuh to clarify", he said.

He admitted that he was not sure he could fulfill the request so he asked the opinion of the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Hartono, and the Director-General of Social Protection and Security at the Ministry of Social Affairs, Pepen Nazaruddin.

"I want my superiors to know and maybe be able to take steps because this is not my responsibility, I am only doing my job but there are risks involved", he said.

When he expressed his request for a fee to Joko, it turned out that Joko had already collected around IDR 8 billion from the first stage of social assistance.

"He (Joko) said that some of them helped some who didn't, in the first stage the amount was around IDR 8 billion," he said.

Meanwhile, Santoso said that the request for fees was made because the Ministry of Social Affairs did not receive money to finance social assistance.

"There is no operational fund to carry out this activity, so the social assistance is purely for assistance, there is no budget for monitoring, work teams, operational meal meetings, when WFH (Work From Home) wants it or not I accept it", he said.

They both admitted that the determination of the company came from people's references at the meeting.

"I was given a list of companies by Sir Kukuh and a written list of the companies. Learning from the first step is that the person who determines the quota is Sir Minister, we determine the company based on input from the meeting because there is attention from the parties than from outside the Ministry of Social Affairs as well", said Santoso.