Two Perpetrators Of Extortion From Social Assistance PKH Threatened With A Maximum Penalty Of 15 Years In Prison

Head of Tangerang District Attorney's Office Bahrudin/ANTARA

JAKARTA - Two perpetrators of illegal collections of social assistance from the Family Hope Program (PKH) with the initials TS and DKA are threatened with 15 years in prison. Both of them carried out social assistance extortion in villages/kelurahan in Tiga Raksa District, Tangerang Regency.

"The threat of a 15-year sentence, Article 2 paragraph 1 for the primary, and its subsidiary Article 3 of Law 31/1999 and Law 20/2001 on eradicating criminal acts of corruption," said Head of Tangerang District Attorney's Office Bahrudin, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, August 3.

He is still waiting for an examination and indications if other PKH supporting parties at the local Social Service are involved in illegal levies. Meanwhile, his party is still examining eight other social assistants before naming the other suspects.

Previously, according to investigations, from 2018-2019, the two PKH assistants with the initials TS and DKA were proven to have extorted social assistance money from Beneficiary Families (KPM) in the amount of Rp. 50,000-Rp. 100,000. So that collected Ro 3.5 billion.

The mode is, the assistant asks the KPM ATM cards, then withdraws them themselves, and returns the remaining money that has been quoted to the KPM.

Bahrudin said that once they made extortion from four villages in Tiga Raksa Sub-district, the two perpetrators received Rp800 million in money.

"If you look at the difference, there are Rp. 50,000 and Rp. 100,000. But if you add up the beneficiary families, the numbers are fantastic,” said Bahrudin.

Bahrudin said that his party would not hesitate to take firm action against social aid fraudsters, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic where people in underprivileged areas desperately need it.

In addition, he hopes that social assistants for PKH can be responsible and carry out their duties according to their functions.