Convicted council members seek money to appeal<\/p>\n
Rusman and Sjofiardi Bachyul Jb, Samarinda\/Padang<\/p>\n
The West Sumatra provincial council has sent an official letter
\nto councillors in East Kalimantan, asking them to provide
\nfinancial aid to West Sumatra councillors convicted on graft
\ncharges, according to a document made available to The Jakarta
\nPost.<\/p>\n
The money was badly needed by the councillors in their bid to
\nappeal the guilty verdicts of the Padang District Court and the
\nhanding down of jail sentences to the West Sumatra councillors,
\nsaid the letter dated May 21, or four days after the verdict.<\/p>\n
The letter was signed by Arwan Kasri, the speaker of the West
\nSumatra provincial council, who was also convicted on graft
\ncharges along with 43 out of the 55 members of the council. The
\ncouncillors were sentenced to terms of up to two years and three
\nmonths in jail, but they remain free pending appeal to the West
\nSumatra High Court.<\/p>\n
The five-year terms of the West Sumatra councillors, like
\nthose of most of other councillors in the country, will come to
\nan end in August.<\/p>\n
Besides asking for money, the West Sumatra councillors also
\nsolicited moral support from their fellow councillors in East
\nKalimantan in the letter.<\/p>\n
Separately, the deputy speaker of the East Kalimantan
\nprovincial council Kasyful Anwar As'ad asserted that his council
\nhad rejected the request as it had no money.<\/p>\n
\"We would definitely support the appeal and we hope that they
\ncan get the verdicts overturned in the higher court. But, we have
\nno money. The East Kalimantan provincial government does not have
\nthe money,\" said Kasyful.<\/p>\n
Nurhuda Trisula, a councillor from the Prosperous Justice
\nParty (PKS), supported Kasyful's comments, but for different
\nreasons. He asserted that the East Kalimantan provincial council
\nhad to reject the request on moral grounds. \"They have already
\nbeen convicted so that it would not be prudent for us to give
\nthem money,\" said Nurhuda, who is also a member of the East
\nKalimantan provincial council's budget committee.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Arwan Asri confirmed that he had sent the letter to
\nthe East Kalimantan provincial council. In fact, such letters had
\nbeen sent to another 23 provincial councils that were members of
\nthe Association of Indonesian Provincial Councils.<\/p>\n
Arwan admitted that no official responses to the letters had
\nbeen received as of Tuesday.<\/p>\n
He further acknowledged that the provincial council was forced
\nto send the letters on the ground that the West Sumatra
\ncouncillors needed a great deal of money to pay for their appeals
\nto the High Court, especially to pay for the lawyers.<\/p>\n
\"We are pooling our money to finance a joint defense. It is
\nhard for us, especially as our terms will end soon,\" said Arwan.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/convicted-council-members-seek-money-to-appeal-1447893297",
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