In Aceh, Procurement of Portable Sinks for Schools Worth IDR 4.2 Billion was Corruption

Illustration of a sink, not a corrupted product (Photo by Sanibell BV on Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Aceh Regional Police confiscated IDR 200 million of money from the alleged corruption case in the procurement of a sink or hand washing machine with a budget of IDR 41.2 billion.

Investigators at the Sub-Directorate III of Corruption Crimes at the Directorate of Special Criminal Investigation at the Aceh Police confiscated money that was suspected of being a company loan or loan fee.

"Investigators confiscated IDR 200 million in cash from 90 company directors. The money was a fee for borrowing to use the company or another term called a flag borrowing", said Aceh Police Special Criminal Investigation Directorate, Commissioner Sony Sanjaya, Wednesday, September 21.

Investigators also secured IDR 100 million in cash which was suspected of being a bribe to a procurement official to smooth the work of procuring the handwashing place.

In addition to cash, investigators also confiscated contract documents and proof of payment for the 390 work packages that had been broken up to avoid tenders or auctions.

Sony said that based on the confiscated evidence, investigators immediately carried out an exposure with the Aceh Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) to calculate state losses.

"In handling this case, investigators have examined 207 company owners who have been appointed as implementers to work on the project. There are also nine company owners who have not yet come for inspection, even though they have been summoned", Sony said as quoted by Antara.

Investigators have also examined the results of work at 348 locations spread across 19 districts/cities in Aceh Province.

"Meanwhile, four more districts/cities will be inspected in the near future, namely Southeast Aceh Regency with 27 jobs, Gayo Lues Regency 13 jobs, Sabang City one job, and Simeulue Regency one job. The inspection is to check the physical work. This work is managed by the Office Aceh's education budget comes from the COVID-19 refocusing fund", he explained.

The Aceh Provincial Government through the Education Office in 2020 procured 400 units of hand washing or portable sinks with a project value of around IDR 41.2 billion. The budget for the sink procurement comes from the COVID-19 refocusing fund.

The sink is intended for high school and vocational schools throughout Aceh Province. The mechanism for determining the winner of the sink procurement project is carried out by direct appointment. Each procurement package costs around IDR 100 million to IDR 200 million.