"Villages now manage quite large amounts of village funds, for example. There's also concern that this could create potential for further corruption, as even when registering or running for office as a village official, there's already a fee they have to pay," said KPK spokesperson Budi Prasetyo at the KPK's Red and White Building in Jakarta on Thursday.
According to Budi, if village funds are embezzled because prospective village officials previously paid to take office, this will have an impact on infrastructure development and village community empowerment.
"The impact will be long-lasting, so this red-handed arrest should certainly be a positive signal. We're making this arrest because it allows us to quickly mitigate or prevent potential future corruption," he said.
Therefore, Budi invited the people of Pati, especially residents of Jaken District, to report allegations of extortion in filling village apparatus positions.
"This way, we can also track and investigate whether similar corruption cases have occurred in other villages or sub-districts when filling positions in them," he explained.
