NTB Prosecutor's Office Examines Suspects for Corruption of KUR Funds for Farmers in Lombok

The High Prosecutor's Office (Kejati) of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB). (Between)

MATARAM - The Special Criminal Investigator of the West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) High Prosecutor's Office (Kejati) has examined one of the suspects in corruption in the distribution of conventional bank people's business credit (KUR) funds.

A spokesman for the Prosecutor's Office for NTB Efien Saputra said the suspect who underwent the investigation had the initials AM (54) from a bank.

"So, suspect AM is being examined today as a witness for the case file belonging to suspect IR (52)", said Efien in Mataram, NTB, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, October 26.

The AM examination, he continued, was carried out in the Special Criminal Investigator Room of the NTB Prosecutor's Office. His party presented the suspect AM before investigators at 10:00 WITA.

"Yes, I came this morning at 10.00 WITA. Until noon, the examination was still running. At around 17.00 WITA, I returned to Mataram Prison", he said.

Regarding the examination material, Efien was reluctant to convey it because it was within the investigator's authority.

Furthermore, regarding the calculation of state losses, he said that investigators were still waiting for the results from the Audit Team of the NTB Finance and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) Representative.

"So, there is no audit result. Still waiting for BPKP", he said.

In handling this case, the prosecutor's investigator entrusted the detention of the two suspects at the Class IIA Mataram Prison, Kuripan, West Lombok Regency.

As of Wednesday, October 26, the two suspects have officially served a second detention period which is valid for 40 days.

The basis for extending the suspect's detention period is that the investigation process has not been completed in the hands of investigators.

The suspect AM and IR in this case have different roles. For AM, it was revealed as one of the former high-ranking officials in a banking position that channeled KUR funds. Meanwhile, IR, treasurer of the Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI) NTB.

This distribution project is the first time that there is a collaboration between conventional bank PT BNI and PT SMA in distributing KUR funds to farmers in Lombok.

In the collaboration contained in the agreement letter Number: Mta/01/PKS/001/2020, PT SMA and PT BNI signed the distribution of KUR funds for farmers in East Lombok and Central Lombok. The number of registered farmers as recipients is 789 people.

After signing the cooperation, PT SMA in September 2020 sub-contracted the task of distributing the KUR funds to the CV ABB company domiciled in NTB.

The legality of CV ABB carrying out the distribution according to the subcontract as stated in the letter of appointment Number: 004/ADM.KUR-SMA/IX/2020.

The existence of CV ABB in this distribution was also revealed because there was a recommendation from HKTI NTB, which is now under the leadership of the Deputy Regent of East Lombok, Rumaksi.

In a series of investigations, the prosecutor has examined the relevant parties, including the management of the NTB HKTI, including the Deputy Regent of East Lombok Rumaksi as chairman.

Apart from HKTI, the witness who had appeared before investigators came from PT BNI which facilitated the process of distributing aid in the form of funds.

Another witness was from CV ABB, a company that assisted recipients from among farmer groups in managing the aid funds.

Now investigators are trying to complete the examination among farmers who receive assistance. The inspection is carried out with the audit team to calculate state losses.