West Sumatra Police Stop Cases Of Alleged Misappropriation Of COVID-19 Funds

Director of Special Criminal Investigation at the West Sumatra Police, Kombes Joko Sadono (ANTARA)

PADANG - The West Sumatra Regional Police (West Sumatra) issued a Notice of Termination of Investigation (SP3) on cases of alleged misappropriation of COVID-19 funds in the 2020 West Sumatra Regional Budget.

The Director of Special Criminal Investigation at the West Sumatra Police, Kombes Joko Sadono, said that his party had carried out a case and the result was that the case was officially terminated.

According to Joko, this was due to the start of the investigation on February 26, 2021, after a refund was made to the state regarding the alleged price mark-up issued by the West Sumatra BPK representative.

Kombes Joko said that the response of the participants to the case was that this case was not a criminal act, because the elements of state financial loss were not met.

"In this title, all parties agree that the investigation of this case should be stopped, because it is not a criminal act," he said, quoted by Antara, Monday, June 21.

He explained that the case was carried out in order to stop the investigation of alleged corruption in the budget for handling COVID-19 at the West Sumatra BPBD based on the report R/LI/-27/II/RES.3.3./2021/Ditreskrimsus on February 26, 2021.

According to him, the decision was made based on the results of the investigation by investigators in the form of witness statements. Then the documents, statements of criminal experts from Trisakti University which are associated with the Constitutional Court Decision Number 25/PUU-XIV/2016.

After that, the telegram letter from the Police Criminal Investigation Unit Number ST/247/VIII/2016/Bareskrim dated August 24, 2016 number 6 that the offense of Article 2 paragraph (1) and Article 3 of Law Number 20 of 2001 changes to Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts Corruption has changed from a formal offense to a material offense.

Then it is juxtaposed with BPK's LHP Number 53/LHP/XV.VIII.PDG/12/2020 dated December 29, 2020 with a recommendation that it must be followed up no later than sixty days after reporting the results of the examination (December 31, 2020 - February 28, 2021).

"The last proof of return of regional state finances was on February 24, 2021 or before the investigation was carried out," he said.