KPK Alleges Disaster Funds Financed Stock Purchases in BNPB Corruption Case
Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) says the brother of the former National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) chief used emergency funds to buy stocks. He is among five suspects named and detained on October 14, 2026, following a sting operation at the agency's East Jakarta headquarters.
Stock purchases and procurement allegations
At an October 16 news conference, KPK acting Director of Investigations Achmad Taufik Husein alleged that Bima Setiawan bought shares in PT Alfa Veritas Energizer (AVE) using disaster ready-to-use funds, known as DSP. The purchases went through PT Medela Potentia, a company affiliated with Bima. His AVE holding was valued at Rp30.98 billion as of October 13.
Bima is the brother of Lt. Gen. Suharyanto and served as an expert staffer to him at BNPB. Suharyanto headed the agency when the sting took place but stepped down after the case became public.
Investigators have divided the case into two groups of alleged bribery offenses. One concerns conflicts of interest involving Bima and affiliated vendors that supplied BNPB. The other involves Richard Erlangga and Gery Prasetiawan, who allegedly received fees from procurement projects financed with disaster emergency funds in several regions.
The KPK put BNPB procurement for 2024-2026 at Rp148 billion, reporting annual amounts of Rp45.76 billion in 2024, Rp52.27 billion in 2025 and Rp50 billion in 2026. It said several vendors were affiliated with Bima.
Five suspects in custody
Alongside Bima, the KPK named Gabriel Purwaka Sigit, BNPB's sub-director of aid management and emergencies and commitment-making official (PPK), and Richard Erlangga, another expert staffer to Suharyanto. The two other suspects are private individuals Gery Prasetiawan and Syifa Nrika Ghifarian.
Their initial detention period runs for 20 days, from October 14 through November 2, 2026.
BNPB Secretary General Rustian was released as a witness rather than detained. KPK Chairman Setyo Budiyanto said investigators had found no unlawful actions on his part.
Evidence seized during the sting included cash, cryptocurrency assets and hundreds of grams of gold. Setyo said the cash total, initially reported as Rp1.4 billion, had been revised to about Rp3.3 billion from multiple parties.
Military police joined the headquarters operation
The October 13 operation began at about 7:15 p.m., when two black Toyota Innovas reached BNPB's headquarters on Jalan Pramuka Raya, escorted by a white vehicle labeled "Military Police." Six people wearing civilian clothes and four uniformed Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel entered the building, checked in at reception and took an elevator upstairs.
Roughly an hour later, the KPK team came back out without answering questions from Tempo reporters at the scene. The commission's news conference followed on the evening of October 16.
Husein said coordination with the TNI's Military Police Center had begun at the outset. Military police also took part in sealing rooms at the headquarters. "Several offices belonging to BNPB officials have been sealed, including the BNPB Chief's office," he said.
Two investigators, interviewed separately, said military police participated in the arrests because active-duty personnel were also implicated in the case.
Emergency funding amid ongoing disasters
According to The Jakarta Post, ready-to-use emergency funds account for most of BNPB's 2026 budget: up to Rp4.62 trillion, or about US$258 million, compared with Rp1.08 trillion in regular funding.
The newspaper reported that the investigation came during a year of multiple emergencies in Indonesia, including a deadly August earthquake in East Nusa Tenggara, September eruptions of Mount Anak Krakatau, and persistent forest and peatland fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan.