Asked To Check Physically, Academics Find Oddities In The Wood Ship Project In Bima Allegedly Corrupted

Illustration of fishing boats leaning at traditional ports. (Unsplash-Fabrian Dwiki)

The academics involved in the inspection of the Bima Regency wooden ship procurement project containing elements of corruption found a number of findings.

Head of the Bima District Attorney's Office (Kejari) Hajar Zunaidi said the findings had been pocketed by his side. Not wanting to explain at length, he only said it was related to the results of physical checks in the field.

"We have received results from academics. What are the results? We'll see at the trial later," said Ahmad in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), Wednesday, November 8, which was confiscated by Antara.

With the findings from the academics, Ahmad said investigators are now deepening the statements from witnesses, including a plan to collaborate with audit experts to help calculate state losses.

Head of the Intelligence Section of the Bima Kejari, Deby Fauzi, previously said that the academics who helped investigators carry out physical checks had expertise in the shipping sector.

This request for physical checks is to strengthen evidence of alleged corruption in the procurement of wooden ships that cost Rp3.9 billion and is not in accordance with the plan.

Deby said witness examination is still ongoing. Apart from the ship procurement partners, the Head of the Bima Regency Transportation Service and the project commitment-making official (PPK) are also included in the agenda of further inspection.

Regarding state losses, Deby said investigators had not yet led to this. However, it is still limited to coordination with auditors.

The procurement of wooden ships by the Bima Regency Transportation Service took place in the 2019 fiscal year. The Department of Transportation realized this project using special allocation funds (DAK).

Funds are allocated for the procurement of two wooden ships. Appearing as the winner of the CV Berkah Brothers auction based in Bima Regency with a contract value of Rp989 million.