Before becoming a suspect, former Director General of Railways Prasetyo Boeditjahjono was always absent from examinations

Former Director General Of Railways Of The Ministry Of Transportation Prasetyo Boeditjahjono At The Attorney General's Office Building (Rizky AP/VOI)

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) said that the former Director General of Railways of the Ministry of Transportation Prasetyo Boeditjahjono was always absent from being examined as a witness in the alleged corruption case of the Besitang-Langsa railway construction project at the Medan Railway Engineering Center for the 2017-2023 period.

Currently, Prasetyo Boeditjahjono is known to have been named a suspect based on sufficient evidence.

"Regarding this case, the person concerned has been properly summoned as a witness several times. However, he did not heed," said the Head of the AGO, Harli Siregar, quoted Monday, November 4.

For that reason, investigators decided to look for his whereabouts in order to obtain information related to the corruption case being investigated.

Until finally, his whereabouts were found in a hotel in Kokaler, North Sumedang District, Sumedang Regency. So he was immediately secured on Sunday, November 3.

"Thanks to the cooperation of the joint team, both from the task force and the Pidsus ranks, securing the person concerned," said Harli.

From the results of the examination, investigators decided to name Prasetyo Boeditjahjono as a suspect.

The alleged corruption case began when the Class 1 Medan Railway Engineering Center (BTP) carried out the construction of the Trans Sumatra railway, one of which was the construction of the Besitang-Langsa railway which connects North Sumatra Province and Aceh Province with a development budget of IDR 1.3 trillion sourced from State Sharia Securities (SBSN), from 2017 to 2023.

In carrying out the construction, Prasetyo as Director General of Railways of the Ministry of Transportation for the 2016 period, 2017 ordered the defendant Nur Setiawan Sidik (NSS) as the power user of the budget (KPA) to decompose the construction work into 11 packages and asked the NSS to win eight companies in the tender process or auction.

The chairman of the Goods and Services Procurement Working Group, namely the defendant Rieki Meidi Yuwana (RMY), at the request of the KPA, then conducted a construction auction without the completeness of the procurement technical documents that had received the approval of technical officials and the procurement qualification method contrary to regulations for the procurement of goods and services.

In this implementation, it is known that the construction of the Besitang-Langsa train road was not preceded by a feasibility study, there were no train track documents made by the Ministry of Transportation, as well as KPA commitment-making officials (PPK) and supervisory consultants deliberately moved the railway construction line that was not in accordance with the design and road documents so that the train line collapsed or decreased and could not be used.

From the implementation of the construction, Prasetyo received a fee from the defendant Akhmad Afif Setiawan (AAS) as PPK of Rp. 1.2 billion and from PT WTJ of Rp. 1.4 billion.

In this case, Prasetyo was charged with Article 2 or Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended in Law Number 20 of 2021 jo. Article 55 Paragraph 1 1 of the Criminal Code.