Aceh Besar DPRK Member Becomes Corruption Suspect In Wastafel Billions Of Rupiah

Residents pay attention to the sinks or washing hands built during the COVID-19 pandemic at a school in Banda Aceh, Friday (3/10/2025). BETWEEN/M Haris SA

The Aceh Police have named a member of the Aceh Besar District House of Representatives (DPRK) as a suspect in the alleged corruption case in the procurement of sinks or hand washing facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Director of the Special Criminal Investigation of the Aceh Police, Kombes Zulhir Destrian, said that the member of the council with the initials WKN was named a suspect since Wednesday (1/10).

"Investigators have named WKN as a suspect in the alleged corruption case in the procurement of sinks after receiving a letter of approval for examination and investigation from the Governor of Aceh because he is a member of the council," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Friday, October 3.

After the determination of the suspect, he said, investigators sent a summons to undergo an examination of the suspect. Investigators scheduled an examination of the suspect on Wednesday (8/10).

Previously, investigators from the Corruption Sub-Directorate of the Special Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Aceh Police also first named SMY as a suspect in the same case. SMY and WKN are partners in the procurement of hand washing facilities.

"In addition to establishing a suspect, investigators also detained SMY to facilitate the investigation process. The suspect SMY was detained at the Aceh Police Detention Center," said Zulhir.

The alleged corruption case began when the Aceh Government through the Education Office procured a hand washing or sink for a total cost of IDR 43.59 billion in the 2020 fiscal year.

The sink was created during the COVID-19 pandemic for all high schools, vocational high schools, and extraordinary schools in Aceh Province involving 219 companies with 390 work packages.

From the results of the inspection of the results of the work, it was found that there were work items not being carried out. In addition, there was also a discrepancy between the installed volume and the volume required in the work contract. Meanwhile, the disbursement of the work is carried out 100 percent.

Based on the results of an audit by the Aceh Representative Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP), the state losses incurred from the sink procurement reached Rp7.2 billion.

This sink corruption case also involved Rachmat Fitri, as Head of the Aceh Education Office, Muchlis as the Goods and Services Procurement Officer (PPBJ), Zulfahmi as the Technical Implementation Officer (PPTK) at the Aceh Education Office.

The three were found guilty based on the Supreme Court's decision with a sentence of one and four years in prison. And now all three are serving sentences for the Class IIA Penitentiary Banda Aceh.