Corruption in Luwu Irrigation Project, Prosecutor's Office: Losses to Farmers
The alleged corruption case in the Accelerated Irrigation Water Management Improvement Programme (P3-TGAI) in Luwu Regency, South Sulawesi, for the 2024 fiscal year has caused losses not only to the community but also potentially to state finances. This was stated by the Head of the Luwu District Prosecutor’s Office, Muhandas Ulimen, recently.
“This act has resulted in losses to the farming community and potentially caused state financial losses due to a decline in the quality of the physical irrigation work,” said Muhandas.
Previously, on 2 March 2026, the Luwu Prosecutor’s Office designated former Indonesian House of Representatives member Muhammad Fauzi as a suspect in the alleged P3-TGAI corruption case. The Prosecutor’s Office also designated the Deputy Chairman of the Luwu Regency Council, Zulkifli, along with three others—Mulyadhie, A. Rano Rahim, and Arif Rahman—as suspects, as the implementers and managers of the P3-TGAI Programme. According to Muhandas, the designation of these suspects was made after investigators obtained sufficient evidence from the investigation results and case exposition conducted in recent times.
It is known that the P3-TGAI Programme in Luwu Regency in 2024 was spread across 152 activity sites, but based on the investigation results, all sites are suspected to be problematic. The suspects are alleged to have demanded money from the recipient farmer groups as a fee. This practice is suspected to have been carried out as a condition for the farmer groups to obtain and implement the irrigation programme.
“The five suspects are alleged to have jointly organised the deduction of grants from Water User Farmer Associations (P3A) by pressuring the farmer group chairmen to hand over a sum of money as a ‘commitment fee’ from the total disbursed budget,” said Muhandas. The suspects, he continued, are strongly suspected of having committed unlawful acts by abusing their authority or position.
The suspects are charged under Article 12 letter e of Law No. 31 of 1999 as amended by Law No. 20 of 2001 on the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption, in conjunction with Article 20 of Law No. 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code and Article 606 Paragraph (2) of Law No. 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 20 of Law No. 1 of 2023.
After being designated as suspects, all five were immediately detained and taken to Palopo Class II prison to undergo a 20-day detention period as the first stage. “This detention is based on the detention warrants issued by the investigation team for each suspect,” said Muhandas.
Meanwhile, the Investigation Team of the Special Crimes Section of the Luwu District Prosecutor’s Office also designated two other suspects in the 2024 Fiscal Year P3-TGAI programme on 10 March 2026. The two individuals are Misdar Abadi bin Darwis and Baso Ilyas. “The investigation team of the Special Crimes Section of the Luwu District Prosecutor’s Office, based on subjective and objective reasons, carried out the detention of the two suspects at Palopo Class II.a prison,” said Muhandas.
The suspects, he continued, in the implementation of the 2024 P3-TGAI programme, are charged under Article 12 letter e of Law No. 31 of 1999 as amended by Law No. 20 of 2001 on the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption, in conjunction with Article 20 of Law No. 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code and Article 606 Paragraph (2) of Law No. 1 of 2023 on the Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 20 of Law No. 1 of 2023. The Luwu District Prosecutor’s Office has assured that it will continue to deepen the investigation into the case, including tracing the possibility of other involved parties.