Jakarta. The anti-graft commission KPK said Thursday it would keep an eye on the government’s Rp 200 trillion or approximately $12 billion worth of fund injection in state banks.

Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa recently made a big move by transferring some of the government’s cash reserves at Bank Indonesia to commercial lenders. The Rp 200 trillion deposit aims to boost credit, which has been on a decline. Asep Guntur Rahayu, a senior official at KPK, told reporters that the move called for high vigilance, while warning that corruption is increasingly rampant in the regional banking sector. 

“On the negative side, [the Rp 200 trillion] invites potential corruption, just like what we have seen in Bank Jepara Artha,” Asep said in Jakarta.

“This Rp 200 trillion stimulus presents a challenge for us at the KPK,” he stated.

The aforementioned bank, belonging to the Jepara government, is now caught in alleged fictitious loan disbursements between 2022 and 2024. Bank Jepara Artha’s top brass had been disbursing fictitious loans, some of which were used to reduce non-performing loans.

Between April 2022 and July 2023, the bank disbursed 40 fictitious loans worth a total of Rp 263.6 billion using fabricated data. For instance, people who worked as small traders and online taxi drivers were made to appear eligible for the loans that could reach Rp 7 billion per debtor. The bank promised each fictitious debtor around Rp 100 million in compensation money.

As the agency doesn’t want history to repeat itself, KPK plans on mobilizing its prevention unit to monitor the Rp 200 trillion deposit. This way, KPK can make sure that the money is going to the productive sectors as targeted, according to Asep. 

The Rp 200 trillion deposit had already made its way to five state banks. The distribution is as follows: BNI (Rp 55 trillion), Mandiri (Rp 55 trillion), BRI (Rp 55 trillion), BTN (Rp 25 trillion), and BSI (Rp 10 trillion). Purbaya said that BSI, a sharia lender, got the smallest portion due to its bank size.