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Social Affairs Minister Juliari Batubara arrested for alleged embezzlement of Rp 17 billion worth of COVID-19 aid

07 December 2020 06:58

JAKARTA. Social Affairs Minister Juliari Batubara has been arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for allegedly embezzling Rp 17 billion in coronavirus (COVID-19) aid.

The Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) member was arrested during an operation that took place in several places in Jakarta at 02.00 Western Indonesian time on Saturday, 5 December 2020. The operation saw the arrest of six people allegedly involved in the corruption case.

The Rp 17 billion allegedly embezzled by Mr Batubara was part of the basic food procurement project in the Ministry of Social Affairs. The project, worth Rp 5.9 trillion in total, was realised in 272 contracts with private companies.

In the first stage of basic food disbursement, Mr Batubara allegedly received a fee of Rp 8.2 billion in cash from the tender winner. "For the second stage of the disbursement, Rp 8.8 billion in fee was collected from October to December 2020, which allegedly would also be used personally by JPB (Juliari Peter Batubara)," KPK said in a press release received by IDNFinancials.com.

Currently KPK has named Mr Batubara as a suspect as well as Ministry of Social Affairs commitment officials Matheus Joko Santoso and Adi Wahyono, and Ardian I.M. and Harry Sidabuke as the givers. (KR/MS)

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