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View all search resultsKPK sees potential corruption in Whoosh land acquisition
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is now looking into potential corruption in the land acquisition for the Whoosh Jakarta-Bandung high speed railway (HSR), after investigators raised suspicions of embezzlement in the alleged inflated land procurement.
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Passengers wait for a Whoosh Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway train on Nov. 11, 2023, at Halim Station in Jakarta. (Antara/Hreeloita Dharma Shanti)
T
he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is now looking into potential corruption in the land acquisition for the Whoosh Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway (HSR), after investigators raised suspicions of embezzlement in the alleged inflated land procurement.
The agency disclosed last month that it began a preliminary investigation into alleged corruption in the Whoosh construction project earlier this year, without detailing the case.
On Monday, KPK acting deputy for enforcement Asep Guntur Rahayu said investigators found indications that a number of unnamed individuals might have resold parcels of state-owned land to the state as part of land acquisition for the railway project.
“Since this is supposed to be a government project, the state should not have to pay for state-owned land,” Asep told reporters at the KPK headquarters in Jakarta, as quoted from Antara.
He said investigators believed that these individuals embezzled the Whoosh’s development costs by inflating the land prices they resold along the 142-kilometer rail corridor connecting Jakarta and Bandung. “This surely has caused state losses,” Asep added.
While Asep did not specify which patches of land are under the KPK’s scrutiny, he said the alleged markup could have occurred anywhere along the Whoosh route from Halim in East Jakarta to Padalarang and Tegalluar in West Java.
He urged these individuals to return the money to the state, noting that the antigraft agency would not have opened its probe if they had sold the land at fair prices.
