February 18, 2025 | 06:39 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) has uncovered that Rp677 million of village funds in North Sumatra were diverted to online gambling. The misused funds were initially allocated for community development, disbursed by the central government for the first half of 2024.
"Investigations reveal that these transactions were executed by several village heads in North Sumatra, with tracked transfers leading to accounts associated with online gambling activities," stated Natsir Kongah, Coordinator of the PPATK's Public Relations Group, in a phone interview on February 18.
Natsir explained that the method involved moving funds from official village accounts to personal ones, where they were then used for online gambling.
Further investigations by PPATK have led to the discovery of an additional Rp5 billion of village funds being misappropriated through improper budget management.
In response, PPATK has coordinated with the Ministry of Villages to address this issue. Natsir Kongah emphasized the need for public vigilance, saying, "We urge communities to oversee the utilization of village funds to ensure they meet their designated purposes."
This case highlights a broader issue of financial mismanagement, but Natsir cautioned that it is premature to conclude whether similar misconduct is occurring elsewhere. “This discovery is specific to North Sumatra, and we are still expanding the investigation. We are also making progress with inquiries in other areas," he said.
The scale of online gambling in Indonesia has grown significantly; in 2024, PPATK recorded transactions amounting to Rp 283 trillion, a sharp increase from Rp 174 trillion in the first half of the year. This figure not only exceeds last year's mid-term totals but also surpasses the full-year transaction volume of 2022.
PPATK head Ivan Yustiavandana noted that in 2023, the agency documented 166 million transactions related to online gambling deposits. "They have also observed new tactics by gambling operators to launder money through smaller, less detectable transactions.
“In the past, a single account for gambling operators would have large amounts, but now they break it down into smaller figures,” Ivan explained in a hearing with the House of Representatives’ Law Commission in Jakarta on November 6, 2024.
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