The Sidoarjo Prosecutor's Office Returns IDR 541 Million From The Village Fund Corruption Case

PHOTO VIA BETWEEN

SIDOARJO - The Sidoarjo District Attorney, East Java, returned the money amounting to IDR 541,912,794 which was confiscated from Bambang Sugeng, the former Head of the Kemantren Village, Tulangan Sidoarjo District related to the 2018 - 2019 village fund corruption case.

Kajari Sidoarjo Arief Zahrulyani said the money was handed over to the new Village Head Kuswandi, at the Village Hall, Kemantren, Tulangan District, Sidoarjo, Tuesday, September 21.

"According to the decision of the Surabaya Corruption Court, today we returned the state lost money amounting to IDR 541,912,794 to the new acting Village Head of the Kemantren", said Arief at the Village Hall, Kemantren Tulangan, quoted by Antara.

Arief said that today his party together with the ranks also provided legal counseling to the people of Kemantren Village.

"In addition to legal counseling, his party also returned money from the 2018-2019 APBDes Corruption Crimes", he said.

Arief said that the refund of state losses was handed over to the village hall in the hope that it would not happen again if there was any misuse of APBDes money or village fund money.

"In addition to returning the money, we also conduct legal counseling to village communities in the hope that people are aware of the law", said Arief.

Village officials were asked to manage the village funds transparently, and by the rules so as not to repeat the misuse of village funds or APBDes.

"The most important thing is that village officials must be transparent and must comply with the rules for managing village funds", said Arief.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Kemantren Kuswandi Village said that his party would like to thank the Sidoarjo Kejari for helping to return the village funds.

"It is planned that the funds will be used for development in villages that have not been completed this year. Because the refund is nearing the end of the year, it will be used for next year's budget", said Kuswandi.

Previously, the village funds had been misappropriated by Bambang Sugeng, the former Head of the Kemantren Village. Bambang was appointed by the Sidoarjo Kejari as a suspect on August 24, 2020. However, he fled to Tenggarong, East Kalimantan, and was only arrested in December 2020.