South Sulawesi Police, in an operation, arrested 10 people for allegedly imposing illegal fees at the Maccopa weighbridge in Maros at approximately 11 p.m. local time on Thursday.

The 10 people comprise a civil servant, identified only as H, 58, from the South Sulawesi Transportation Agency, five non-permanent employees of the agency, and four truck drivers and assistants.

The police’s general crime investigation unit director Sr. Comr. Erwin Zadma said an anti-illegal levy team (OPP) caught them red-handed exchanging unlawful fees for permitting the trucks skip inspections at the weighbridge.

“The […] civil servant and employees were arrested by the OPP team when they had accepted illegal fees from the truck assistants after had been waived through without proper inspection,” said Erwin. 

The OPP team confiscated Rp 12 million (US$919.36) in cash, receipts, books and envelopes as evidence.

Erwin said the police had named the 10 people suspects. They would be charged for violating Article 5 of Law No. 31/1999 on corruption.

Erwin said H, who had worked at Maccopa weighbridge for three years, claimed he had been accepting Rp 12 million worth of fees every day but they were largely illegal levies gained from skipped inspections at the weighbridge.

“In total, they handed over only around Rp 1.3 million to 2 million to the South Sulawesi Revenue Agency while the remainder was allegedly distributed to several parties, including officials, local NGOs and journalists,” said Erwin.

If calculated, he said, the illegal practice inflicted losses of Rp 10 million to the state each day or around Rp 3.6 billion per year. In South Sulawesi, there are 11 weighbridges located in several regencies and municipalities. (ebf) 

Source:
courtesy of THE JAKARTA POST

by Andi Hajramurni

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