Tangerang Prosecutor's Office has declared East Ciputat district chief M. Djamaludin a suspect in an alleged misuse of Rp 16.9 billion (US$1.8 million) in state funds allocated for an illiteracy eradication program in the regency.
“The district chief is being very uncooperative and possibly we will have to force him to turn up for questioning,” Dedie Tri Haryadi, chief of the civil and state administrative section at the prosecutor’s office, said.
He said Djamaludin had played a role as the chairman of the supervisory board of the regency’s illiteracy eradication program, which was organized by community learning activity centers (PKBM) in every district across the regency.
State prosecutors have arrested Sihabudin from the Seroja PKBM in Jayanti; Achmad Hidayat from the Anak Bangsa PKBM in Jambe; Agustin Bastaman from the Cendana PKMB in Kosambi; Nurul Iman of the Teluk Naga PKMB; and Sajum of Al-waqiah PKMB and named them all suspects.
Other suspects include Rakhmat Tamang, head of the informal education (PLS) section at Banten Education Agency, Mardi Norman, head of Tangerang regency’s PLS section, and Ahmad Ruhyat Jamal, executive chairman of the Al-Waqiah PKMB.
The alleged misappropriation of the anti-illiteracy fund occurred in 2007.
An early investigation found that all the suspects had submitted reports of fictitious activities to the Tangerang Education Agency.
According to the prosecutor's office, the sum of money the agency handed down to each PKBM to hold the program ranged from Rp 388 million to Rp 700 million.
The office's special crimes section head, Rahmat Heryanto, said more suspects might be announced as investigations were underway in the regency’s 36 districts.
"It’s just a matter of time. Just wait and see," he said.
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