Kuansing Regent Suspected of Accepting Car Bribes and Extorting Farmers

Kuantan Singingi (Kuansing) Regent Suhardiman Amby has been named a suspect in a bribery case for accepting a Land Cruiser from Zulkarnain during the selection process for regional secretary. The KPK stated that Suhardiman is also suspected of having previously accepted a Pajero Sport bribe while serving as Acting Regent of Kuansing in 2021. “This is not the first time ZKN (Zulkarnain) has done this. When he held the position of agency head, he also gave something to SA, who was then Acting Regent,” said KPK Acting Director of Investigation Achmad Taufik Husein during a press conference at the KPK building on Wednesday (1/7/2026). Suhardiman became Acting Regent after the then-Regent, Andi Putra, was arrested by the KPK for corruption. Suhardiman was later re-elected and inaugurated as Regent of Kuansing in 2025. At that time, Zulkarnain purchased a Pajero Sport worth Rp 700 million on credit to secure the position of Head of the Public Works and Spatial Planning (PUPR) Agency in Kuansing. The purchase was facilitated by a private party named Ardiles, the Director of PT Mitra Ideal Consultant. The KPK suspects Ardiles received 13 projects at the PUPR Agency in return for helping Zulkarnain buy the Pajero Sport to bribe Suhardiman. The total value of the projects Ardiles obtained was Rp 1.2 billion in 2022. “ARD again became the winner of projects in several agencies and the regional secretariat of Kuansing in 2025 and 2026, with a value exceeding Rp 966 million,” Achmad Taufik said. Now, Zulkarnain is again suspected of giving a bribe to Suhardiman in the form of a Land Cruiser so that he would be selected as Regional Secretary of Kuansing. The Land Cruiser, valued at Rp 2.05 billion, was purchased on credit with the help of Ardiles. Suhardiman, Zulkarnain, and Ardiles have all been named suspects by the KPK. “Paying in instalments with this tenor was also intended by ZKN to lock in his position so that it would be safe throughout the regent’s term, hence the credit was set for a 5-year tenor,” Taufik explained. The KPK also revealed that Suhardiman attempted to conceal the Land Cruiser. The vehicle was sold by Suhardiman because he felt he was being monitored by the KPK. “Regarding the Toyota Land Cruiser SUV, the KPK team received information that there were parties trying to make it disappear. There was a delay while searching for the person and the evidence; there were parties trying to eliminate or hide its whereabouts by selling it to a showroom owned by SW (Suwito), a private party. This is suspected because SA (Suhardiman Amby) knew he was being monitored by the KPK team,” Taufik said. It was not explained in detail how Suhardiman knew he was being monitored. Taufik said Suwito was also one of the parties detained during the sting operation on Monday (29/6). The KPK has seized evidence of the instalment payment transactions for the Land Cruiser. “Electronic evidence in the form of instalment payment transactions for the purchase of the Toyota Land Cruiser 300 GR-S SUV, which was used as an instrument of bribery by ZKN to SA,” Taufik stated. Furthermore, the KPK also uncovered alleged other receipts by Suhardiman related to the release of Limited Production Forest areas. Taufik noted that the regional government is the authority that provides technical recommendations for forest land release, while the full authority for releasing forest areas lies with the Ministry of Forestry. Taufik said the money requested by Suhardiman was a portion of the surplus from the village unit cooperative (KUD) members. The KUD members are farmers in Kuansing. “The money requested is suspected to be a portion of the surplus from KUD members, who are farmers in Kuansing. In other words, the income of these farmers, which amounts to hundreds of thousands of rupiah per month, had to be cut by half,” Taufik said.