After Being Investigated By The KPK, Effendi Gazali Says There Is A God In Control Of The Social Assistance Quota

Effendi Gazali / Antara

JAKARTA - Communication observer from the University of Indonesia (UI) Effendi Gazali said there is a god who controls the quota for the provision of social assistance.

He conveyed this after being questioned by KPK (Corruption Eradication Commission) investigators regarding the bribery for the procurement of COVID-19 social assistance that ensnared former Social Minister Juliari Peter Batubara.

The god in question is a large company that takes up quota in the procurement quota. He learned this from a facilitator in a research seminar related to social assistance which was held on 23 July.

"There (in the meeting, red) the point is we conveyed that the gods don't eat them all but the small ones, MSMEs can also, and they don't want to give these small things", said Effendi to reporters after being questioned by investigators at the KPK's Red and White House, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta, Thursday, March 25.

It's just that, when asked about who the god was, he was reluctant to reveal it. Effendi only asked the KPK to act fairly and summon all of them, because he had already conveyed it to investigators.

"I have already been summoned, if the KPK really upholds great justice when will it be summoned", he said.

"I've come, fulfilled the summons even though yesterday it was only in WA. So, when will the big ones be called", said Effendi.

As previously reported, the KPK is currently investigating the flow of money from vendors to the Ministry of Social Affairs related to the provision of social assistance for COVID-19.

In this case, the KPK named several suspects in connection with the alleged corruption case of social assistance food packages for the handling of COVID-19 in the Greater Jakarta area, including former Social Minister Juliari.

Apart from Juliari, the KPK also named four other suspects, namely the Commitment Making Officer at the Ministry of Social Affairs (PPK) MJS and AW as the recipient of the bribe and AIM and HS as the giver of the bribe.

This case began when Juliari appointed two commitment-making officials (PPK) Matheus Joko Santoso and Adi to carry out this project by directly appointing partners.

The KPK suspects that it was agreed that there was a fee from the work package that partners had to pay to the Ministry of Social Affairs. As for the fee for each COVID-19 social assistance package that Matheus and Adi agreed to, it was IDR 10,000 from a value of IDR 300 thousand.

Matheus and Adi then made work contracts with several suppliers as partners for providing social assistance in May-November 2020. The partners chosen were AIM, HS, and PT Rajawali Parama Indonesia aka PT RPI which allegedly belonged to Matheus and whose appointment was known to Juliari.

In the first phase of the distribution of social assistance, a fee of IDR 12 billion was allegedly received. Matheus gave around IDR 8.2 billion in cash to Juliari through Adi which was then used to meet personal needs.

When conducting OTT (catch-hand operation) in this case, the KPK also confiscated evidence in the form of money that had been prepared from the bribes, namely AIM and HS in one of the apartments in Jakarta and Bandung IDR 14.5 billion was kept in several suitcases and bags and consisted of rupiah denominations and foreign currency.