Papua Police questioned HF, former public works agency head of Bintuni regency, West Papua, on Wednesday in his capacity as a witness in an alleged Rp 4.5 billion (US$ 466,300) corruption case.
HF was arrested in Semarang, Central Java, on Monday before he was transferred to Papua on Wednesday.
He went through a series of health tests at Bhayangkara Hospital in Jayapura before being questioned by the investigators.
HF
is alleged to have misused the agency’s funding designated for fixing
the irrigation channels in two areas, Tuari I and Tuari II, in 2009. The
city allocated Rp 5.9 billion to renovate the irrigation channels in
both areas.
“The budget for fixing the Tuari I irrigation
channels amounted Rp 2.9 billion, while more than Rp 1.6 billion of
funds was embezzled in the Tuari II project. This has caused total
losses to the state of Rp 4.5 billion,” said the director of Papua
Police’s special crimes unit Sr. Comr. Setyo Budiyanto.
The misuse of funds was discovered by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), which later reported the finding to the National Police.
The National Police then handed the case over to Papua Police for further investigation.
If
sufficient evidence is found against HF he will be charged under
Article 2 and 3 of Law No. 31/1999, which was revised in Law No. 20/2001
on corruption with a maximum jail sentence of 20 years.
The
Papua Police’s determination in eradicating corruption was supported by
chairman of the Students Executive Board (BEM) at Cendrawasih
University, Paul Numberi.
“Corruption is one of the reasons why
Papuans are still living in poverty. Our administration has a lot of
money, but the people are poor because the officials have embezzled
their budgets,” Paul told The Jakarta Post.
“Corruption among
government officials has a devastating effect on poor people. Papua will
never be turned into a better place if officials keep on misusing funds
that are actually intended to increase the people’s welfare,” he added.
A number of Papua officials have been implicated in several corruption cases.
On
Tuesday, the Papua Police’s directorate of special crimes questioned
Maybrat Regent Bernard Sagrim in an alleged Rp 3 billion corruption
case.
Papua Legislative Council speaker John Ibo, former Papua
provincial secretary Andi Baso Basaleng and former Papua provincial
financial bureau head Paul Onibala have been brought to the Jayapura
Corruption Court for the alleged misappropriation of Rp 5.2 billion from
the renovation budget of the Papua Council speaker’s house.