Title: Former Jakarta Culture Chief Arrested in Corruption Case Involving Rp150B
The Jakarta Corruption Court has formally arrested corruption-case/” title=”Jakarta's Cultural Affairs Chief Inactive, Named Suspect in Corruption Case”>Iwan Henry Wardhana, the former inactive Head of the corruption-officials-arrest-iwan-henry-former-jakarta-kadisbud-over-fictitious-spj-case/” title=”Indonesian Anti-Corruption Officials Arrest Iwan Henry, Former Jakarta Kadisbud, Over Fictitious SPJ Case”>Jakarta Culture Department, in a corruption case involving a suspected misappropriation of funds totaling over IDR150 billion (approximately USD10.6 million).
This arrest, made by the Jakarta Corruption Court’s investigations team led by Syahron Hasibuan, occurred on Thursday (2/1) after Wardhana was named a suspect. Alongside Wardhana, the court also arrested Fairza Maulana, the Head of Culture Utilization at the same department.
"During the investigation, we detained Wardhana at the Salemba Class C Prison, South Jakarta District Court, and Maulana at the Salemba Class C Prison, High Court, for a period of 20 days," Hasibuan stated.
In this case, the two suspects are alleged to have conspired to use a team led by suspect Gatot Arif Rahmadi to execute Culture Department projects in Jakarta. They are also suspected of creating fictitious arts studios to generate fake receipts for the purpose of withdrawing funds.
According to the indictment, the suspects had agreed to use these fictitious studios for the issuance of receipts (SPJ) for cultural events and art performances. The funds withdrawn into the studio accounts, as well as those from genuine studios, were then transferred to Gatot’s account, allegedly for the benefit of Wardhana and Maulana.
Wardhana and Maulana, along with Gatot, face charges under Articles 2 and 3, joined with Article 18(1) of the Corruption Eradication Commission Law, and Article 55(1)joined with Article 64(1) of the Criminal Code.
The Jakarta Corruption Court has been probing this case since November 2024, escalating it to formal investigation status on December 17, 2024.
Prior to his arrest, Wardhana had been non-active as the head of the Culture Department following allegations of corruption involving the department’s budget of over IDR150 billion in 2023. assets seized include cash totaling IDR1 billion, hundreds of counterfeit stamps, documents related to the disbursement of funds, phones, laptops, and computers.
(tfq/wis)