Corruption Case Of The NTB Distanbun Excise Fund Stopped, Prosecutor's Office: If There Is A Report With New Evidence, We Will Open It Again

The West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) High Prosecutor's Office (Kejati). (Between)

The West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) High Prosecutor's Office (Kejati) has stopped investigating cases of alleged corruption in the management of Tobacco Products Excise Sharing Funds (DBHCHT) at the NTB Agriculture and Plantation Service (Distanbun).

"The expert opinion states that all tobacco oven furnaces originating from the 2022 DBHCHT Distanbun NTB budget are in accordance with planning specifications," said Assistant for Special Crimes (Aspidsus) of the NTB Attorney General's Office, Elly Rahmawati, in Mataram, NTB, Wednesday, May 29, which was confiscated by Antara.

He said that the termination of this investigation had gone through legal handling procedures.

"So, from the investigation process that we carried out, we have examined experts, auditors, and evidence from the statements of witnesses," said Elly.

"Indeed, the tobacco oven is made locally. Experts say that everything is in accordance with specifications," he said.

He also said that in the investigation process his party had checked the quantity and quality of the goods to East Lombok. The amount is said to be in accordance with the plan of more than 300.

By conveying this, Elly emphasized that this termination was part of the prosecutor's efforts to provide legal certainty against a case handling.

"Every stage of handling cases, starting from investigations, investigations, and prosecutions, there is a time limit. So, this termination is so that there is legal certainty," he said.

However, he said, his party could re-open the case if there were reports with new evidence.

"It is possible that one day there will be a report with new evidence, we can open it again, both investigations and investigations," he said.

The NTB Distanbun uses the 2022 DBHCHT budget to fulfill agricultural and plantation production supporting facilities in NTB, namely the procurement of equipment machinery and tobacco oven furnaces that cost IDR 8.3 billion.

For the procurement of the event engine, the NTB Distanbun set aside a DBHCHT budget of IDR 2.3 billion. This value is for the procurement of 92 units.

The tools were distributed to tobacco farmer groups spread across West Lombok Regency, Central Lombok Regency, East Lombok Regency, and Sumbawa Regency.

Then, the remaining Rp6 billion was realized by the NTB Distanbun for the procurement of 300 units of tobacco oven furnaces.

The NTB Distanbun distributed the tool to tobacco farmer groups in Central Lombok Regency and East Lombok Regency.

In the initial suspicion, the procurement results cannot be used by farmers because they do not meet their needs. Other allegations related to distribution are not right on target.