KPK Says Tulungagung Regent Extorts OPD Heads Using Resignation Letters as New Modus Operandi
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has stated that the modus operandi of corruption carried out by Tulungagung Regent Gatut Sunu Wibowo represents a new discovery.
KPK Deputy for Enforcement and Execution Asep Guntur Rahayu explained that Gatut used resignation statements signed by heads of regional government organisations (OPD) without including dates as a means of extortion.
“Indeed, to be frank, this is new for us as well; we’ve only just discovered it. From the start, it was locked in. First, he would try to safeguard himself with absolute responsibility statements, and second, to control these people to follow what he does or what he wants. He controls them with resignation letters as OPD heads,” said Asep at the Red and White Building in Jakarta on Saturday (11 April 2026).
Asep noted that the officials in the Tulungagung Regency Government targeted by Regent Gatut’s extortion were appointed starting from December 2025.
“So far, they (the officials in the Tulungagung Regency Government) are at a stage of extreme unease with what has been conveyed or the practices carried out by Mr GSW,” he stated.
Asep explained that when an OPD head could not fulfil Regent Gatut’s wishes, their resignation letter could be immediately issued.
Therefore, he said, the officials in the Tulungagung Regency Government are constrained by the existence of those letters.
“If they refuse, they can be dismissed or resign that very day. So, if that letter is issued or shown to the public or the wider audience, it appears as though they themselves resigned as OPD heads and civil servants. This is no small matter,” he remarked.
Not only that, Asep added that the regent’s aide, Dwi Yoga Ambal, routinely collected money from OPD heads.
“YOG (Dwi Yoga Ambal) does this continuously, possibly almost every week two or three times, collecting,” he said.
The KPK has subsequently placed both suspects in detention for the initial 20 days from 11 to 30 April 2026 at the KPK’s Red and White Building Branch Detention Centre.
Gatut is alleged to have pressured OPD leaders within the Tulungagung Regency Government following the appointment process for officials.
The officials were reportedly asked to sign statements of readiness to resign from their positions and as civil servants if they were unable to carry out the duties and responsibilities assigned to them.