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View all search resultsKPK probes into potential corruption in dozens of regional general hospitals
As a bid-rigging case in the hospital construction industry in East Kolaka continues to unfold, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is looking into potential corruption in the expansion projects for dozens of other regional general hospitals across the country.
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A father takes his child, who is hospitalized for diarrhea, for a walk around the children's ward of the Dr. Muhammad Zein Painan regional general hospital on May 9, 2024, in South Pesisir regency, West Sumatra. (Antara/Iggoy el Fitra)
T
he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is looking into potential corruption in the expansion projects for dozens of regional general hospitals across the country, following the arrest of new suspects in a botched construction project for a hospital in East Kolaka, South Sulawesi.
The East Kolaka general hospital is among 32 regency- and city-owned general hospitals (RSUD) that the Health Ministry is expanding or planning to upgrade this year as part of President Prabowo Subianto’s program to bolster health infrastructure nationwide.
“We are investigating the other 31 hospitals [in the program] because we suspect that criminal acts are not only occurring in the East Kolaka hospital,” KPK acting deputy for enforcement Asep Guntur Rahayu told a live streamed press briefing in Jakarta on Monday.
He was referring to an alleged kickback and bid-rigging scheme in the construction of the East Kolaka hospital. The project, which was started in May of this year, will upgrade the hospital from class D to class C facility.
In August, KPK arrested five suspects in the case, including regent Abdul Azis of NasDem Party, a Health Ministry official in charge of regional hospital construction and employees of a private construction company. Abdul, who assumed office in 2023, is accused of manipulating the tender process in exchange for kickbacks equivalent to around 8 percent of the project’s value.
On Monday, investigators arrested three new suspects: another Health Ministry official in charge of public health laboratory infrastructure identified as Hendrik Permana, an executive of another private construction management company and an official at the Southeast Sulawesi Regional Revenue Agency, who, according to KPK, is also a confidant to the regent.
KPK accused them of colluding in 2024 for higher special allocation funds (DAK) intended for East Kolaka hospital’s upgrade from a class D to a class C facility, adding operating rooms and laboratories.
