Tatang Guritno, Jakarta – Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) says that state financial losses as a consequence of corruption increased four-fold in 2020.
This was conveyed by ICW researcher Kurnia Ramadhan during a virtual press conference on the 2020 Corruption Trial Monitoring Results Report on Monday March 22. Ramadhan said that ICW's data shows that total state losses due to corruption in 2020 reached 56.7 trillion rupiah.
"This figure rose by as much as four times compared with 2019. In 2019 state losses because of corruption crimes stood at 12 trillion", explained Ramadhan.
Ramadhan also revealed that high-value corruption cases in 2020 were largely handled by the Attorney General's Office (AGO) rather than the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
In 2020 the KPK only handled corruption cases totaling state losses of 114.8 billion rupiah while the AGO prosecuted cases totalling as much as 56.7 trillion.
"The AGO's work should of course be appreciated, but at the same time criticising the KPK so that it doesn't just handle corruption crimes of bribery but also go further into the issue of money laundering which is commonly committed by corruption defendants", said Ramadhan.
Based on this data, Ramadhan explained that in term of state losses the five biggest corruption cases in 2020 were, first, the sale of PT Trans Pacific Petrochemical Indoatama (TPPI) by Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Agency (BP Migas) head Raden Priyono resulting in losses of 37.8 trillion rupiah.
"Second, the Jiwasraya [state insurer] corruption case involving PT Hanson International Director Benny Tjokro which caused state losses of as much as 16.8 trillion rupiah", said Ramadhan.
The next case was the corruption of investment funds by PT Bank Sumut treasury division head Maulana A Lubis with losses of 202 billion rupiah. Then the ADK Cepu Block corruption case involving PT Alam Bersemi Director Sentosa with state loses of 178 billion rupiah.
"Finally there was the solar type fuel procurement corruption case involving PT PLN [the state electricity company] Director Nur Pamudji with losses of 173 billion rupiah", he said.
While Ramadhan appreciates the AGO's handling of these cases he is also asking the AGO to further develop cases of alleged corruption that result in big losses for the state.
"We also must not forget to remind our friends at the AGO so that the big cases being handled in terms of state financial losses have continuity, not just stopping with one or two defendants being sentenced in corruption case trials", he said in conclusion.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "ICW Sebut Kerugian Negara Akibat Korupsi di Tahun 2020 Meningkat 4 Kali Lipat".]
