Cilacap Regent Prepares Holiday Bonuses for Police and Courts, Funds Already in Gift Bags

Jakarta — Cilacap Regent Syamsul Auliya Rachman has been arrested for preparing holiday bonuses (THR) for several regional leadership coordinating bodies, including the Cilacap Police Chief.

“Information obtained shows that the money was already placed in gift bags for the regional leadership bodies. One of those bodies is the police, namely the Police Chief,” stated Asep Guntur Rahayu, Deputy for Prosecution and Execution at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), at a press conference at KPK headquarters on Saturday, 14 March 2026.

Asep indicated that the initial examination of 27 people arrested in the hand-catching operation (OTT) was deliberately not conducted at Cilacap Police Station due to information that a holiday bonus had been prepared for the Cilacap Police Chief.

“That’s why the examination was not carried out at Cilacap Police Station to avoid the aforementioned conflict of interest. We moved it to Banyumas,” Asep said.

Syamsul and 12 others were subsequently transferred to Jakarta.

Beyond the police, Syamsul allegedly also prepared holiday bonuses for other parties, including courts in the Cilacap region.

“Starting from the police, the prosecutor’s office, courts. There are state courts and religious courts,” Asep added.

The names of prospective bonus recipients were found in a memo.

Syamsul allegedly ordered his subordinates to extract holiday bonus funds from regional agencies with a target of Rp 750 million. The funds extracted through coercion would be used to distribute bonuses to external parties totalling Rp 515 million, with the remainder considered Syamsul’s personal holiday bonus.

Cash was seized from the residence of Ferry Adhi Dharma, the Regent’s Deputy II, one of the officials ordered by Syamsul to extract the bonus funds from regional agencies.

Syamsul and another suspect, Sadmoko, have been detained at the KPK detention facility for the next 20 days.

For their actions, they are charged with violating Article 12 paragraph e and/or Article 12B of Law No. 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of Corruption Crimes as amended by Law No. 20 of 2001, in conjunction with Article 20 paragraph c of Law No. 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code.