Prosecutor's Office Detains 7 Corruption Suspects Of The West Sumatra Education Office

Assistant For Special Crimes At The West Sumatra Prosecutor's Office Hadiman/ANTARA

The West Sumatra High Prosecutor's Office on Thursday detained seven suspects in the alleged corruption case in the procurement of practical tools for vocational high school (SMK) students at the local provincial Education Office.

"The detention was carried out by investigators in order to speed up the process of investigating and transferring cases to court," said Assistant for Special Crimes at the West Sumatra Attorney General's Office Hadiman in Padang as reported by ANTARA, Thursday, June 6.

The detention of seven suspects was carried out after they underwent a second examination at the West Sumatra Prosecutor's Office.

Hadiman explained the reasons for the detention of the suspects because they were feared that they would run away, destroy evidence, or influence other witnesses as contained in Article 21 of the Criminal Procedure Code (KUHAP).

The seven suspects detained by the West Sumatra Prosecutor's Office are R as the Budget User Authority (KPA), RA as the Technical Implementing Officer (PPTK), both of whom are ASN at the West Sumatra Provincial Education Office.

Then SA as ASN at SMK;DRS (Head of the Service Procurement Work Unit), E (Director of CV Bunga Tri Dara), Su (Deputy Director of CV Bunga Tri Dara), and Sy (Director of Global Innovation).

Meanwhile, another suspect was absent from the investigator's summons, namely a procurement partner with the initials BA who served as Director of PT Sikabaluan Jaya Mandiri.

The eight people (including BA) have been suspects since Tuesday (28/5) and have been questioned in their status as suspects.

Haliman said the investigative team would speed up the completeness of the examination of the suspects so that they could be immediately transferred to the court.

The suspects were charged with Article 2 paragraph (1) and Article 3 of Law 31 of 1999 as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption in conjunction with Article 18 in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code.

In addition, investigators have also received a refund of Rp. 60 million from suspect Sy and confiscated the prosecutor's office as evidence.

The case that ensnared the suspects was the alleged corruption in the project for procuring practical equipment for vocational students at the West Sumatra Provincial Education Office for the 2021 fiscal year with a total budget of Rp. 18 billion.

"Then on the procurement, PPTK and PPA are suspected of ignoring the procedures for determining the temporary estimated price for goods held in the project," said Haliman.

Based on calculations carried out by the auditor of the West Sumatra Prosecutor's Office, it is known that state financial losses arising in this case are around Rp. 5.5 billion, with details on the Maritime Sector of Rp. 472 million, the Tourism Sector of Rp. 2.13 billion, the Horticulture Sector of Rp. 1.44 billion, and the Industrial Sector of Rp. 1.46 billion.