Prosecutor's Office Receives Rp3.08 Billion Return from Pineapple Seed Corruption Suspect
Makassar (ANTARA) - The South Sulawesi High Prosecutor’s Office (Kejati Sulsel) has received a return of funds amounting to Rp3.08 billion, which constitutes the alleged state losses in the corruption case concerning the procurement of pineapple seedlings.
“Today, the investigators have received the return of Rp3.08 billion from the suspect with initials RM (Director of PT AAN),” said Assistant for Special Crimes at Kejati Sulsel, Rachmat Supriady, in Makassar on Wednesday.
He explained that the project was managed by the Provincial Food Crops, Horticulture, and Plantation Office of South Sulawesi for the 2024 fiscal year.
The suspect is one of the directors of PT AAN, the partner in the pineapple seedling procurement project valued at Rp60 billion.
Previously, the suspect had also deposited Rp1.25 billion to the investigators in February 2024.
Rachmat emphasised that despite the return of state losses, the legal process against the suspects will continue in accordance with applicable provisions.
“The recovery of state losses is still ongoing. We are still tracing assets and fund flows involving other parties in this case,” he said.
Previously, in this case, six suspects have been detained in connection with the alleged criminal act of corruption in the 2024 pineapple seedling procurement project. The budget allocated in the main 2024 APBD amounted to Rp60 billion.
The six suspects are, respectively, the former Acting Governor of South Sulawesi, Bahtiar Baharuddin, and his trusted aide Hasan Sulaiman (HS); Director of PT Almira Agro Nusantara (PT AAN), Rimawaty Mansyur (RM); and Director of PT Cipta Agri Pratama (CAP), Rio Erlangga (RE), as the winning tender partners.
According to calculations by the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP), there are indications of unlawful acts causing losses to state finances of around Rp50 billion or total loss.
To date, investigators continue to conduct investigations by examining 80 witnesses, including summoning five leaders of the South Sulawesi DPRD for the 2019-2024 period to provide statements as witnesses.
From the total project value of Rp60 billion, the investigation team suspects practices of price inflation (mark-up) and indications of fictitious procurement, resulting in state financial losses of up to approximately Rp50 billion.