Fadia Arafiq Exploits Her Influence: Builds a Company, Forces Contract Wins, Money Flows Back to the Regent’s Inner Circle
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The corruption scheme that ensnares Pekalongan Regent Fadia Arafiq illustrates a nearly flawless pattern of interests, ‘from her, by her, for her’. While serving as Pekalongan Regent, Fadia is alleged to have been involved in a complete sequence: founding a family-owned company, taking part in procurement projects within the Pekalongan Regency government, directing subordinates to secure contracts for her company, then billions of rupiah in profits flowing back to her family circle.
The scheme was revealed after the KPK named Fadia as a suspect in a case of alleged procurement corruption, on Wednesday (4 March 2026), following a crackdown operation conducted a day earlier in Semarang.
Fadia Arafiq was initially caught in a sting operation (OTT) in Semarang, Central Java, on Tuesday (3 March 2026).
Asep said that KPK’s investigation results show that the alleged corruption case has been ongoing since Fadia Arafiq first assumed office as Pekalongan Regent (2021–2024).
Then in 2022, Fadia’s husband, Mukhtaruddin Ashraff Abu, and their son, Muhammad Sabiq Ashraff, founded PT RNB (Raja Nusantara Berjaya).
Sabiq was appointed Director of PT RNB, while Mukhtaruddin Ashraff served as commissioner.
In 2024, Fadia appointed Rul Bayatun as Director of PT RNB.
Asep said that Fadia obtained substantial gains in line with the large number of procurement projects undertaken by PT RNB across a number of Pekalongan Regency regional units.
Moreover, most of PT RNB’s employees were Fadia’s campaign team who were employed in various Pekalongan Regency offices.
In 2025, PT RNB dominated the Pekalongan Regency’s procurement of goods and services by handling outsourcing services procurement in 17 regional units, 3 Regional General Hospitals (RSUDs), and 1 district.
Looking further, during 2023-2026, there were inflows to PT RNB totalling Rp46 billion sourced from contracts between PT RNB and regional government agencies in Pekalongan Regency.
Of that money, only Rp22 billion was used to pay outsourcing staff salaries.