414 Free Nutritious Meal Kitchens Found in Serious Violations, Referred to Law Enforcement
The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) has returned funds amounting to Rp311.24 billion to the state treasury after discovering hundreds of Nutrition Fulfilment Service Units (SPPG), or kitchens for the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme, that showed signs of serious irregularities. The findings resulted from a comprehensive evaluation of the virtual accounts (VA) used in the programme’s operations.
BGN Head Sudaryono stated that inspections were conducted on all SPPG virtual accounts since he assumed leadership of the agency. The investigation revealed 414 SPPGs with various issues, ranging from the use of duplicate accounts to accounts that had received fund disbursements despite the kitchens being non-operational or entirely non-existent.
“We have found 414 SPPGs (or kitchens) where the accounts were either doubled, or the kitchens did not exist, or the kitchens were not yet operational. Consequently, we have returned state and public funds amounting to Rp311,246,295,184,” Sudaryono said during a press conference at the BGN Office in Jakarta on Friday.
The BGN noted that the largest portion of the returned funds came from virtual accounts using Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), amounting to Rp137.5 billion from 121 SPPGs. This was followed by Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) with Rp74 billion from 117 SPPGs. Meanwhile, Bank Mandiri accounts contributed Rp71.6 billion from 129 SPPGs, Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI) returned Rp12.9 billion from 19 SPPGs, and Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) returned Rp15.3 billion from 28 SPPGs.
In addition to returning the funds to the state treasury, the BGN has referred these findings to law enforcement agencies for further investigation. According to Sudaryono, an inquiry is necessary to determine whether there was any element of intent or malicious intent in the disbursement of these funds.
“We have also reported this to law enforcement to see if there are indications of mens rea—for instance, whether there was an intent to steal or commit corruption. We are leaving it to the prosecutors to examine,” he said.
Sudaryont also revealed suspicions regarding the involvement of certain individuals within the previous BGN administration concerning the disbursement of funds to the problematic SPPG virtual accounts. However, he emphasised that these allegations require further investigation and that proof remains the authority of law enforcement.
He added that two possible motives are currently being investigated: first, an alleged attempt to unlawfully seize state funds; and second, the possibility that the disbursements were made to artificially inflate budget absorption rates. “We are investigating this, and if there are indications of mens rea or malicious intent to steal, we will hand this over to law enforcement,” he concluded.