Alleged Corruption Of IDR 150 Billion, Head Of DKI Jakarta Culture Office Removed

The DKI Jakarta Prosecutor's Office conducted a search at the DKI Jakarta Culture Office, Wednesday 19 December 2024 (doc. DKI Jakarta Prosecutor's Office)

The Acting Head of the DKI Jakarta Provincial Communication, Information and Statistics Agency, Budi Awaluddin, confirmed that there was a search of the DKI Jakarta Culture Service (Disbud) office regarding the alleged corruption of Rp150 billion.

As a result of this case, Budi said, the Head of the DKI Jakarta Culture Service, Iwan Henry Wardhana, would be deactivated on Thursday, December 19, 2024. As of Wednesday, December 18 evening, Iwan was still at the Cultural Service office to undergo an examination.

Then, the Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta, Teguh Setyabudi, has instructed the Inspectorate of DKI Jakarta Province to explore and investigate the budget activities of the Culture Service in 2023.

"From the results of the investigation, it was found that several allegations of regional losses had occurred due to discrepancies in several activity sampling. Currently, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Inspectorate is still calculating the amount of regional losses," Budi said in his statement, Thursday, December 19.

Budi explained that the DKI Provincial Government had received a notification letter from the DKI Jakarta High Prosecutor's Office regarding alleged irregularities in budget activities at the Culture Service.

He continued, the DKI Provincial Government is ready to cooperate with the High Prosecutor's Office (Kejati) which is investigating and investigating this issue.

"We are still waiting for further information regarding the case from the High Prosecutor's Office. Of course, we are ready to assist the High Prosecutor's Office to investigate this case thoroughly," he explained.

It is known that the DKI Jakarta High Prosecutor's Office searched the office of the DKI Jakarta Culture Office on Wednesday, December 18. The search was carried out starting at 10.40 WIB, starting from the room of the Head of the Culture Service on the 15th floor and the room of the Head of Culture Utilization on the 14th floor.

Not only the offices of the Culture Service were searched, but also the houses of the Head of Culture Utilization and the offices of third parties or private parties, namely the EO GR-Pro office.

The basis for the search is the alleged irregularity of activity funds sourced from the Budget of the Jakarta Special Region Culture Office for the 2023 fiscal year with an activity value of approximately Rp150 billion.

"The search and confiscation of the handling of cases of alleged corruption in the form of irregularities in activities at the Jakarta Special Regional Provincial Culture Office," said Head of the Legal Information Section of the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office, Syahroni Hasibuan.

The DKI Attorney General's Office confiscated Rp1 billion from the search. It was also confiscated hundreds of fake stamps from a series of searches by the Jakarta Special Region Provincial Culture Office and four other locations.

From a temporary investigation, hundreds of fake stamps were used to make an impression of the implementation of an activity. Thus, the budget for the activities of the Jakarta Culture Service for the 2023 period can be disbursed.

"It is as if the activity is carried out as evidenced by the stamp to disburse the budget even though the fact is that there is absolutely no activity," he said.

In the series of searches, investigators also confiscated a number of evidences such as electronic items such as laptops, cellphones, computers, and flash drives. Now, the evidence is being investigated further.