Jakarta (ANTARA) - Investigators from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) questioned Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) Arief Prasetyo Adi as a witness in a case of alleged corruption at the Agriculture Ministry.
One of the suspects in this case is the former agriculture minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo. Adi was posed 10 questions regarding the relation between his agency and the ministry.
"There were no levies or money deposits because we run a different institution. The budgets, activities, and duties are separated," he stated at the KPK Building in Jakarta on Friday.
He emphasized that there was no deposit of money from Bapanas to Limpo. He noted that Bapanas was earlier part of the Ministry of Agriculture. However, Bapanas has become a separate institution from the ministry.
"I was appointed by President Joko Widodo on February 21, 2022, and directly report to him," Adi added.
He remarked that the cooperation between Bapanas and the ministry was only while calculating commodity data. In October 2023, the KPK officially detained Limpo and the ministry's Director of Agricultural Equipment and Machinery, Muhammad Hatta (MH), in an alleged corruption case at the ministry. The two suspects followed the ministry's Secretary General, Kasdi Subagyono (KS), who was earlier detained.
The alleged corruption case at the ministry began during Limpo's administration for the 2019-2024 period. With his position, Limpo made personal policies, including making levies and receiving deposits from the Ministry of Agriculture's internal employees to meet his personal needs, including for his families in the form of cash transfers, bank account transfers, and gifts in the form of goods or services, with help from KS and MH.
The money was used for Limpo's personal interests, such as paying his credit card bills, buying a new car, personal home repairs, plane tickets for the family, and treatment and facial care for his family worth billions of rupiah.
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KPK investigators also found a flow of funds from Limpo to the NasDem Party. They are suspected of violating Article 12, letters e and 12B of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Corruption Crimes as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001 in conjunction with Article 55, paragraph (1) 1 of the Criminal Code.
Limpo is also suspected of violating Article 3 and/or 4 of Law Number 8 of 2010 concerning the Crime of Money Laundering (TPPU).
KPK questions Bapanas head in relation to Agriculture Ministry case
Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas), Arief Prasetyo Adi (middle), after being questioned by the KPK in Jakarta on Friday, February 2, 2024. (ANTARA/Fianda Sjofjan/rst)
