I

ndonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) has said that village funds are prone to misuse with dozens of local officials now facing charges for swindling the money.

“At least 110 village fund graft cases are now being investigated by law enforcement,” ICW researcher Egi Primayogha told reporters at a press briefing in Jakarta on Friday as quoted by Tribunnews.com.

The ICW has found the cases involved a total of 139 individuals, 107 of whom are village heads while the rest are village officials and the village chiefs’ wives.

Egi said the large number of village chiefs involved in the cases had shown that many village chiefs failed to use the village funds transparently and accountably, as stipulated by the 2014 Village Law.

The ICW said the state losses from alleged graft cases involving village funds had increased to Rp 19.6 billion (US$146,596) this year from Rp 10.4 billion last year.