Bali ex-official faces prison for land fraud<\/p>\n
Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Made Mudita demanded on Tuesday that the Denpasar
\nDistrict Court sentence a former official of the Bali land agency
\n(BPN) to one year in jail for alleged graft.<\/p>\n
I Gede Pasek Arsadja ought also to be fined Rp 20 million
\n(US$2,352) for illegally taking over 116,950 square meters of
\nstate-owned land as private property, Mudita told the court.<\/p>\n
The alleged crime took place in 1992, and involved five other
\nBPN senior officials, identified as I Gede Naya, I Ketut
\nDjempina, Soewignyo, I Dewa Gede Raka Saputra and the late I
\nGusti Komang Debet Artana.<\/p>\n
Naya was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment while Djempina
\nwas acquitted on all charges.<\/p>\n
At that time, the defendant was BPN chief of its land
\nmeasurement section, responsible for inspecting and verifying
\nstate-owned land scattered in the island's resort area of Pecatu,
\nJimbaran, some 30 kilometers east of Denpasar.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor accused Arsadja and his colleagues of
\nconspiring to change the legal status of a large plot of state
\nland in the area into that of private property.<\/p>\n
They later registered the land as property belonging to I
\nGusti Ketut Adiputra, then a member of the Bali legislative
\ncouncil, Mudita added.<\/p>\n
As a result of his involvement with the land fraud case,
\nAdiputra, who is currently a legislative candidate from the
\nGolkar Party, was placed on the list of crooked politicians by
\nthe Bali Corruption Watch.<\/p>\n
Arsadja and other defendants were indicted under several
\nclauses of Law No. 31\/1999 on the eradication of corruption, and
\nthe Criminal Code.<\/p>\n
"The defendant has abused his authority, which has inflicted
\nfinancial losses on the state of Rp 882.3 million," the
\nprosecutor said.<\/p>\n
Presiding judge Nengah Suriada adjourned the trial until April
\n20, at which time the defendant will present his defense plea.<\/p>",
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