Major graft probe suspended pending result of BPKP audit

Agus Maryono ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Cilacap   |  Sat, 11/07/2009 1:04 PM  |  The Archipelago

The Central Java Development and Finance Comptroller (BPKP) is currently auditing a major graft case involving Village Allocation Funds (ADD) worth Rp 13 billion (US$1.34 million) in Cilacap regency.

The case, initially handled by the Banyumas Police, has been suspended pending the audit by the BPKP.

"Hopefully the BPKP will complete its audit shortly, so we can resume investigations," Banyumas Police chief detective Comr. Syarif Rahman said Friday.

"We haven't discontinued the case. We are carefully covering all aspects to ensure we have an airtight case by working together with the BPKP," Syarif told The Jakarta Post.

Syarif added the BPKP audit would then serve as a launchpad for naming suspects and that so far, only two suspects from hundreds of officials had been examined.

The suspects are regency administration officials who were responsible for local development projects. The two regency officials are identified as former village administrative division head Dangir Mulyadi, and his subordinate, Suyatmo. Police retrieved evidence in the form of Rp 375 million in cash from the two suspects.

Syarif said the police were currently searching for the masterminds. He added that they received the largest amounts of between Rp 1 billion and Rp 1.5 billion each.

"According to the suspects, they are high-ranking officials at the Cilacap regency administration, including officials from the legislative council," said Syarif.

Police have yet to name them as suspects before obtaining evidence. "I have their names, and only have to find the evidence," Syarif said.

The Banyumas Police have been investigating the case for five months. The funds in question were to have been allocated to development programs in every village. Each of the 284 villages in Cilacap was entitled to receive Rp 100 million in ADD funds.

Allegedly, not all of the Rp 100 million allocated to each village had been used as planned. Police suspect that regency project coordinators deducted Rp 48 million from each village on the pretext of developing Internet access for the village.

The police suspect this sum was then divided equally among village and district officials, as well as a number of key regency administration officials.

The village Internet program, known as the Village Administration Information System, was introduced in Cilacap in 2008.

Police fear the Rp 48 million deducted by the regency administration from each village was not used entirely for the project. According to Syarif, a number of village heads have acknowledged that each of the villages only received one computer, a desk and printer, which cost less than Rp 10 million.

Syarif explained that the remaining Rp 38 million from each village was then divided equally among the officials directly involved in the program. In October, the Cilacap Police requested statements from the village and district chiefs across Cilacap thought to have pocketed the money.

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