Police Receive Refund Of Rp791 Million Aceh Government Scholarship Corruption Money

ILLUSTRA TION BY VOI

BANDA ACEH - Investigators of the Special Criminal Investigation Directorate (Ditreskrimsus) of the Aceh Regional Police received a refund of state money from the alleged corruption case of the Aceh Government's scholarship program, totaling Rp791.7 million.

Head of Public Relations of the Aceh Police, Kombes PWinardy in Banda Aceh, Tuesday, said the money was returned by 63 scholarship recipients.

"The total refund of the scholarship money from the 63 students is Rp. 791.7 million," said Winardy, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, March 15.

Previously, investigators from the Ditreskrimsus Polda Aceh investigated allegations of corruption in the Aceh Government scholarships for the 2017 Fiscal Year with a loss value of Rp. 22.3 billion.

Funds for the scholarship program are budgeted at the Human Resources Development Agency (BPSDM) of Aceh Province to be distributed to 803 scholarship recipients.

Based on the results of the investigation, as many as 400 students have the potential to be suspects, because they do not meet the requirements as scholarship recipients but receive the money. The hundreds of students knew that they did not qualify as recipients of the Aceh Government scholarship.

The police are still working on the alleged corruption case against the Aceh Government's scholarship program and have named seven suspects.

"From the results of the case titles, the seven people are considered to meet the elements to be named suspects in cases of alleged criminal acts of corruption in education funds or scholarships for the 2017 Fiscal Year," he said.

The seven suspects are SYR as the Budget User (PA), FZ and RSL as the Budget User Proxy (KPA), FY as the Technical Implementation Officer (PPTK), and SM, RDJ, and RK as the coordinator of the scholarship field.

Investigators also gave the opportunity to hundreds of scholarship recipients who did not meet the requirements to return the scholarship money to the local government treasury.

"Investigators prefer to return state losses rather than punish scholarship recipients who do not meet these requirements," he stressed.

The Aceh Regional Police has issued an appeal to all scholarship recipients who are not entitled to immediately return the money to the state treasury. As a follow-up to the appeal, the Ditreskrimsus Polda Aceh opened a post for refunding scholarships.

"We appreciate those who have returned the scholarship money because they are cooperative and uphold the advice of the Aceh Police. For those who have not returned, we are advised to immediately visit the Aceh Police Ditreskrimsus post," he said.