JAKARTA – The Director General (Dirjen) of Village Government Development (Bina Pemdes) Eko Prasetyanto Purnomo Putro claimed that he, every week, receives a letter of request for examination of the village head regarding village financial management from the police and the attorney general’s office.
“Every week we receive letters from the Regional Police, the Attorney General’s Office, to investigate the village head. It’s a pity, they are not certainly guilty,” he said.
One to note, The Directorate General (Ditjen) of Bina Pemdes of the Ministry of Home Affairs is now encouraging action to prevent corruption in villages.
The movement is done by increasing the number of villages that are used as anti-corruption models and utilization of online applications.
They have also been working with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for anti-corruption prevention in villages.
“We encourage the villages that won the latest competition to be a model for anti-corruption villages,” said Eko.
In addition, Ditjen Bina Pemdes has also held Technical Guidance (Bimtek) regarding the use of village financial management applications in Jakarta.
According to Eko, the guidance is part of the Village Governance Strengthening and Developing Program (P3PD) formed by the Government of Indonesia and the World Bank.
The prevention of corruption needs to be done considering that the central government has disbursed budgets to villages throughout Indonesia in the form of Village Funds.
Eko himself estimated that village funds flowing into villages from 2015–2023 amounted to around IDR 538.6 trillion.
Ditjen Bina Pemdes and the Development and Finance Audit Agency (BPKP) are also developing online applications.
Even so, Eko admits that this application still has many challenges, such as blank spots, electricity constraints, human resources, budgeting, and institutions.
“Let’s solve this problem. The important thing is that there is progress in managing village finances,” he said.
Eko also mentioned non-cash transactions, considering that these transactions must be implemented no later than January 1, 2024.
“Besides making things easier, this is also to prevent corruption because money is flexible and simple,” he said. (NEWS ADVERTORIAL)
