"The stamps were used for accountability in activity implementation reports, such as the stamps for art workshops or stamps for MSMEs [micro, small and medium enterprises]," the Jakarta Prosecutor’s Office head of legal information section Syahron Hasibuan, said on Wednesday, as quoted by Antara news agency.

Syahron explained that the initial purpose of the stamps was to release the budget for the cultural agency, however, it turned out that the stamps were fake and misused.

The fictitious stamps were then used in activity reports that were allegedly not in line with the actual implementation on the ground.

The Jakarta Prosecutor’s Office suspects a loss of over Rp 150 billion (US$9.21 million) based on the value of activities in the cultural agency's budget documents.

The city administration confirmed receiving a notification letter from the provincial prosecutor’s office regarding suspected budget activity discrepancies at the cultural agency.

The acting Jakarta governor has instructed the city inspectorate to thoroughly investigate the 2023 budget activities of the cultural agency.

The investigation revealed several allegations of regional losses due to discrepancies in some activity samples.

The city inspectorate is also currently calculating the extent of the losses.

According to the cultural agency secretary, the raid also included the house of the agency’s cultural utilization division head and the office of a private entity.

"We are still waiting for further information regarding this case from the Jakarta Prosecutor’s Office. Of course, we are ready to assist the prosecutor's office in investigating this case thoroughly," acting head of Jakarta Communication, Information, and Statistics Agency, Budi Awaluddin, said.