TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - One by one, ministers from the NasDem Party are being implicated in legal cases. Previously, the Attorney General’s Office charged Minister of Communication and Informatics Johnny Gerard Plate in a corruption case related to the construction of Internet base transceiver station (BTS) towers. Now it is the turn of Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo, as the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is investigating allegations of him collecting kickbacks from his subordinates.
Tempo’s investigation reveals indications of the collection of tributes to cover operational and personal expenses of the agriculture minister. We present the methods in several articles in this week’s cover story. Looking at what has been imposed on him, there is a strong scent of politics behind this investigation.
The Coalition of Change, composed of NasDem, the Democrat Party, and the Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS), caught wind of the case involving Syahrul a year ago. They suspect that the bribery case of Syahrul are used to disrupt the coalition supporting Anies Baswedan as a presidential candidate in the 2024 election. Is this true? We attempt to map out the political issues behind KPK’s investigation of Minister Syahrul.
In addition, we also cover allegations of financial reports manipulation in state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Several SOEs are suspected of manipulating their revenue to appear profitable and generate company profits. Others exploit loopholes through receivables. How did these allegations of manipulation pass the audit?
Bad news also comes from the banking world. A debtor of Bank Mayapada has been reported to the police for defaulting on loans. Furthermore, it was revealed that the credit money was also deposited to the bank executives. How did this alleged defaulting pass the scrutiny of the Financial Services Authority?
Happy reading. Have a great week.
Bagja Hidayat
Executive Editor
