Examine The Ministry Of Social Affairs' Director General Of Social Security, KPK Investigates Covid-19 Social Assistance Bribes

KPK/VOI Building

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) continues to explore the flow of money for the bribery case for the provision of social assistance (bansos) for COVID-19 in Jabodetabek.

This deepening was carried out by examining the Director General of Social and Social Affairs of the Ministry of Social Affairs Pepen Nazaruddin on Thursday, March 25.

During the examination, Pepen was asked about the alleged flow of money received from the former Ministry of Social Affairs Commitment Making Officer (PPK) Matheus Joko Santoso.

"It continues to be investigated, among others, the alleged flow of money received from the suspect MJS related to the social assistance procurement fee for the Jabodetabek area in 2020 at the Ministry of Social Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia and the alleged flow of money to the suspect JPB (Juliari Peter Batubara) through the suspect MJS and AW (Adi Wahyono)," said Acting KPK spokesman Ali Fikri in his written statement, Friday, March 26.

Apart from summoning Pepen, during the interrogation, the KPK also summoned three private parties, namely Triana Private, Amelia Prayitno, and Muhammad Rakyan Imam. "The witnesses were confirmed regarding their participation as a vendor in the implementation of social assistance," said Ali.

"Also related to the alleged flow of money to the JPB suspect through the MJS and AW suspects," he added.

Previously, the KPK named a number of suspects in connection with the alleged corruption case of social assistance (bansos) packages for food packages for COVID-19 treatment in the Greater Jakarta area, including former Social Minister Juliari Peter Batubara.

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.

There is also a fee for each COVID-19 social assistance package agreed by Matheus and Adi of 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 alias PT RPI which allegedly belonged to Matheus and whose appointment was known to Juliari.

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

When conducting OTT 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. Rp14.5 billion was kept in a number of suitcases and bags and consisted of rupiah denominations and foreign currency.