Bintan Regent Becomes Suspect In KPK And Detained, Riau Islands Governor: Let's Pray For Pak Apri Sujadi

Riau Islands Governor Ansar Ahmad/ Antara

JAKARTA - Riau Islands Governor Ansar Ahmad is concerned that the Regent of Bintan Apri Sujadi has become a KPK suspect for alleged corruption in the regulation of excisable goods in the management of the free trade area and free port (KPBPB) of Bintan Regency in 2016-2018.

"Let's pray together so that the legal process that Mr. Apri Sujadi is undergoing will be facilitated by Allah SWT," Ansar said in Tanjungpinang, as reported by Antara, Friday, August 13.

Ansar hopes that the determination of the suspect, Apri Sujadi, will not affect the running of the Bintan Regency Government.

He immediately consulted with the Riau Islands Provincial Government Legal Bureau regarding the mechanism for appointing a replacement for the Bintan Regent as long as the person concerned faces a legal process.

"We'll ask the Legal Bureau first, what the mechanism will be, it will be followed up immediately," said Ansar.

Furthermore, Ansar reminded all district/city regional heads and ASN in the Riau Islands Province to be careful at work so as not to violate the applicable rules and regulations.

"Sometimes our good intentions work, the results are not necessarily good. We need to remind each other so that incidents like this don't happen again," said Ansar. Based on the results of the KPK investigation, suspect Apri Sujadi from 2017 to 2018 was suspected of receiving around Rp. 6.3 billion in money.

For the purposes of the investigation, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Investigative Team has made efforts to forcefully detain Apri Sujadi for the next 20 days starting from August 12, 2021 to August 31, 2021.

In addition to the Bintan Regent, the KPK also detained the suspect Muhammad Saleh Umar as Acting Head of the Bintan Free Trade Area and Free Port Concession Agency for the Bintan Regency.