Corruption In Fertilizer Distribution Of IDR 20 Billion, Siak Riau Prosecutor's Office Detains Two Suspects

Kejari Siak has detained a suspect in misappropriation of subsidized fertilizers in Kerinci Kanan District, which is the owner of a kiosk. (ANTARA)

SIAK - The Special Crime Investigation Prosecutor's Team of the Siak District Attorney's Office (Kejari), Riau Province detained two suspects for alleged corruption in irregularities in the distribution of subsidized fertilizers in Kerinci Kanan District in 2021. "The two suspects were detained for 20 days starting from September 18, 2023 to October 7, 2023 at the Siak Resort Police Detention Center (Rutan)," said Head of the Intelligence Section of the Siak Kejari Intelligence Section, Manik Hospital, quoted by ANTARA Tuesday, September 19. The two suspects had the initials MY and SHF. The actions resulted in state financial losses of Rp. 5.4 billion as reported by the State Financial Losses Calculation Results by the Financial and Development Representative Agency of Riau Province. As for the role of MY suspect in this case as the owner of the Complete Fertilizer Kios (KPL) Riau Rakyat Tani Trade Business and suspect SHF as the owner of KPL UD. Rangga. The kios was supposed to distribute subsidized fertilizers from distributors to farmers in the Kerinci Kanan Subdistrict. However, said Kasi Intel, in fact, this was not done by the two suspects, but instead manipulated the data on subsidized fertilizer reports. "Based on the results of examinations of 323 farmers whose names were listed in the subsidized fertilizer suppression form, it is known that some farmers have never corrected subsidized fertilizers," he said. The mode of misappropriation in this case, the distributor continued, the appointment of subsidized fertilizer retailers under the approval of producers. The two KPLs were pointed out based on a letter from PT Pupuk Indonesia (Persero) regarding data on the distribution of subsidized fertilizers in Siak Regency in 2021. "The number of subsidized values in Kerinci Kanan District in 2021 paid by the government is more than Rp20 billion," he said.

In this case based on the adequacy of evidence, the Siak Kejari investigators themselves have named six suspects. In addition to the two suspects, there are also SKI as the Head of Facilities and Infrastructure Division of the Siak Agriculture Service in 2021 and AMZ as the former Head of the Pupuk, Pesticide and Agricultural Machinery Section at the Siak Agriculture Service. Then SPN as a Civil Servant at the Siak Agriculture Service. Finally, SYJ as the Field Agricultural Extension Officer of Kerinci Kanan District/ Verification and Validation Officer.