Witness Reveals Alex Noerdin's Order To South Sumatra BPKAD To Budget Rp100 Billion For Sriwijaya Mosque Project Which Is Now Case

PHOTO VIA BETWEEN / SHIP BUTTON NUMBER

PALEMBANG - The Governor of South Sumatra (Sumsel) for the 2008-2018 period, Alex Noerdin, is said to have ordered the Regional Financial and Asset Management Agency (BPKAD) to budget Rp 100 billion annually for the construction of the Sriwijaya Grand Mosque in Palembang.

This was revealed by the former Head of the South Sumatra BPKAD, Laoma L Tobing, a witness in the follow-up trial of the settlement of the corruption case (tipikor) of grant funds for the construction of the Sriwijaya Grand Mosque, at the Palembang District Court, Tuesday, September 7.

"I was ordered by him (Sumsel Governor Alex Noerdin, ed) to budget IDR 100 billion annually for the construction of this mosque," Laoma Tobing told the panel of corruption judges chaired by Sahlan Efendi, quoted by Antara.

According to him, the request was conveyed directly by Alex Noerdin orally to himself during a meeting agenda that took place at Griya Agung, Palembang (the governor's official residence) in 2014.

"At that time, as I recall, there was also Mr. Marwah and a number of officials from the South Sumatra Provincial Government," he said.

Then, on the order, he entered the value of the money as a grant for the construction of a mosque in the budget work plan (RKA).

After that, it was included in the discussion by the South Sumatra Regional Government Budget Team (TPAD), which at that time was chaired by the suspect Mukti Sulaiman.

"I'm sure the two people heard this order," he assured the panel of judges.

The suspect, Mukti Sulaiman, who was also a witness at the trial, confirmed that he was discussing the Sriwijaya Mosque grant in the TPAD.

"It is true that there is a noble discussion," he said.

The South Sumatra Provincial Government disbursed a grant of IDR 130 billion for the construction of the Sriwijaya Grand Mosque which was carried out in two terms.

In the first term in 2015 it was valued at Rp. 50 billion, and in the second term in 2017 it was valued at Rp. 80 billion, each of which came from the South Sumatra Provincial Budget, after the signing of the Regional Grant Agreement (NPHD) by Assistant 3 for Welfare of the South Sumatra Provincial Government, Akhmad Najib.

Judge Sahlan Efendi was of the view that based on the testimony of the former Head of BPKAD, the process for disbursing grant funds meant that it had been prepared in advance (top down), which is different from what normally happens, namely that grant funds can only be processed after a request (bottom up).

Previously, the Head of the Special Criminal Prosecution Section of the South Sumatra High Prosecutor's Office, M Naimullah, in Palembang, Tuesday, said his party had an agenda for summoning Muddai Madang to testify at a hearing next week. Then, for Alex Noerdin, a summons is scheduled for a trial in the next two weeks.

"Currently, we have not been summoned, we have the agenda for the next two weeks as a witness," he said.

According to him, the two high-ranking officials from South Sumatra were summoned as witnesses to complete the proof of corruption in the grant funds for the construction of the Sriwijaya Grand Mosque against the four defendants Edi Hermanto, Syarifudin, Yudi Arminto, and Dwi Krisdayani at the Palembang District Court.

Four defendants were accused by the prosecutor of violating Article 2 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 20 of 2001 in conjunction with Article 55 of the Criminal Code and subsidiary Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 No. 20/2001 in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) of the 1st Criminal Code.