Dadan et al. Detained, House Commission IX Reminds BGN to Manage Budget with Care
Deputy Chairman of House Commission IX Yahya Zaini has expressed his concern that three former leaders of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) have become entangled in a corruption case involving the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme at the Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung). Yahya reminded the new leadership of the BGN to be more careful in managing the budget.
“I am concerned about the case that has befallen the three of them. They were very careless in managing the BGN and the MBG programme,” Yahya told reporters on Friday.
Nevertheless, Yahya respects the ongoing legal process. He also upholds the principle of the presumption of innocence until there is a legally binding court decision.
Yahya touched upon the case that has been exposed by the Attorney General’s Office. According to him, this indicates a serious problem in budget governance.
“The Attorney General’s Office has stated that the case that befell them is like what has been widely discussed in public, namely the procurement of electric motorcycles, procurement of laptops, and event organisers,” he said.
“This shows poor budget governance, not at all considering that the budget comes from the people’s money,” he continued.
The Golkar Party politician also highlighted the alleged links between foundations and the Nutrition Fulfilment Service Units (SPPG) affiliated with the suspects. This, according to him, has the potential to create conflicts of interest.
“They should have prioritised the community rather than using their positions to seek profit. Included in this are allegations of buying and selling SPPG kitchen points, about which many complaints have been received from members of the public who have been disadvantaged,” he said.
Yahya then urged the new leadership of the BGN to be more careful in managing the budget. He stressed that the new leadership must be free from corruption.
“I urge the new head of BGN and officials within the BGN to be careful in using the budget, it must be clean and free from corruption,” he stressed.
Yahya also acknowledged that his side had never received reports regarding the procurement of goods at the BGN. Going forward, he asserted that supervision will be tightened.
“Going forward, Commission IX will increase supervision regarding the use of the budget by the BGN. So that budget management is carried out prudently and in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations,” he continued.
He said the incident demonstrates a serious problem in governance. This opens a gap for abuse of position for personal interests.
“The essence of the various cases that befell them is poor governance. With a large budget, they were tempted to act dishonestly by using their positions to seek personal gain,” he stated.
The Attorney General’s Office is known to have named three former BGN officials as suspects in this case. They are the former Head of BGN, Dadan Hindayana, and two former Deputy Heads of BGN, Sony Sonjaya and Lodewyk Pusung.
The three are suspected of intervening in the verification process of the BGN partner portal so that their foundations would still qualify despite being unfit.
Not only did they intervene, but the three are also suspected of being affiliated with a number of SPPGs. From the suspects’ affiliations, a number of SPPG foundations received billions of rupiah every day.
In addition to the affiliation mode, the Attorney General’s Office revealed that Dadan and the others had marked up the budget related to the MBG programme. Budget inflation was even carried out on goods and services that did not match the needs on the ground.
The marked-up procurement included 21,801 units of electric motorcycles. Besides electric motorcycles, price inflation also occurred in the procurement of 32,000 pairs of shoes at the BGN. The budget value reached IDR 1 trillion.