the Head of Village Allegedly Burned His Own Office To Avoid Audit

News24xx.com - The head of the Neglasari village in Jatiwaras district, Tasikmalaya, West Java, was arrested after allegedly burning the Neglasari village administration building in an effort to avoid a financial audit.

Police Chief of Tasikmalaya, AKP Doni Eka Putra said Wowon Gunawan had been arrested along with his brother, Budiman, based on the results of tests conducted by the National Police's forensic laboratory.

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"The two suspects are now detained and have been proven to burn [to the building] using several types of fuel. They have been charged under Article 187 of the Criminal Code [arson], which was sentenced to a maximum of 12 years in prison, "Doni said on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.

Doni alleges that Wowon and Budiman committed crimes to destroy evidence of potential financial errors in the office.

"The village chief's brother, Budiman, was the one who put forward the idea, because his younger brother [Wowon] always complained that he was afraid of being examined by the audit team about how he used village funds during his tenure," Doni said.

Separately, Sani Junan Hudaya, head of the Neglasari Community Forum, said villagers had conducted several demonstrations demanding budget transparency from the Wowon government between 2015 and 2019.

"Many development projects worth Rp 2.1 billion [US $ 153,301] were not reported correctly," claims Sani.

Many documents that might prove villagers' suspicion were reportedly destroyed in a fire, which occurred early on Saturday.

In recent years, the village head has assumed responsibility for a large amount of money being transferred to villages through President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's village fund program.

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Around Rp. 257 trillion (US $ 18.4 billion) was distributed to villages during Jokowi's first term, and the amount will increase to Rp. 400 trillion for the period 2019-2024.

The mismatch of village funds has become a problem, with Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) data showing that 141 village heads have been involved in corruption cases related to village funds since 2015.

NEWS24XX.COM/FIR