Jakarta. The regent of oil-rich Meranti lslands Regency who has controversially threatened to “take up arms” in protest of disproportionate revenue sharing with the central government has been arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission or KPK.

Muhammad Adil was “caught red-handed committing corruption last night” during a raid in the regency which shares maritime borders with Malaysia, KPK Chairman Firli Bahuri said in Jakarta on Friday.

The arrest of Adil is KPK’s first anti-graft bust of the year, he said.

KPK spokesman Ali Fikri said separately Adil was arrested along with several other people, but he didn’t go into details pending the preliminary investigation.

“During the operation, the team seized money which is now being counted,” he said.

Adil was earlier reprimanded by the home affairs minister for “making verbal threats against the central government” over dissatisfaction with the amount of oil revenue sharing and state funding.

During a hearing with a Finance Ministry official last December, Adil was angry with the funding earmarked for the oil-rich district for 2023, saying it was too small and disproportionate to the district's natural resources.

Adil claimed the central government's allocation for the district budget increased by a mere Rp 700 million while Meranti's oil production surged to nearly 8,000 barrels per day and the global oil price topped $100 per barrel.

"Do we need to take up arms? That won't be possible," Adil said. 

He also called Finance Ministry officials "Satan" for refusing to accommodate his demand for a significant rise in central government funding and suggested that the district be handed to the "neighboring country", interpreted by local media as Malaysia.

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