Corruption rampant among councillors<\/p>\n
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Corruption run amok seems to have become the order of the day
\nwithin the country's legislatures as the list of criminal cases
\ninvolving policy makers from all administrative levels grows at
\nthe rate of one new case per day, according to the latest
\nAttorney General's Office (AGO) data.<\/p>\n
AGO spokesman Kemas Yahya Rahman explained on Wednesday that
\nthe number of legislators implicated in corruption cases across
\nthe country had increased from 270 in May to 300 in June.<\/p>\n
"Many of them have been accused of misusing state funds by
\nallocating money for fictitious programs. Many others received
\nbribe money during the elections of their regent, mayor or
\ngovernor," said Rahman.<\/p>\n
According to a list released by the prosecutor's office, there
\nare currently 300 corruption cases that they are working on
\ninvolving legislators representing 30 of the country's 32
\nprovinces.<\/p>\n
The list suggested that corruption was not confined to one
\narea or one or two main islands, but indeed nationwide, from
\nNatuna island in the north of the country to Lombok, and from
\nCentral and West Java to East Kutai in Central Kalimantan, just
\nto name a few.<\/p>\n
Other corruption cases involved the use of fictitious
\ndocuments to claim double the money on a project that may or may
\nnot exist as well as the misuse of cooperative funds.<\/p>\n
Kemas said that the state losses could run into the trillions
\nof rupiah range as each as the cases averaged between Rp 1
\nbillion (US$111,000) and Rp 10 billion.<\/p>\n
"However, we don't know for sure the amount of state losses
\nbecause these cases are all being investigated. We will reveal
\nthe total when we know for sure," he said.<\/p>\n
The country has been rocked by a dizzying series of corruption
\ncases involving hundreds of councillors in the last two months.
\nIn a spectacular example of a corruption conspiracy involving
\nnearly the entire legislative body, the Padang district court in
\nWest Sumatra sentenced 43 of 55 provincial councillors to prison
\non May 17 for embezzling billions of rupiah from the 2002
\nprovincial budget.<\/p>\n
However, the rash of investigations has raised questions on
\nwhether the AGO's moves are politically motivated considering
\nthat none of the local administration heads had been implicated
\nand Attorney General M.A. Rachman has specifically ordered his
\nprosecutors to investigate councillors across the country ahead
\nof the presidential election.<\/p>\n
Several analysts have suggested that other local government
\nofficials, including governors and regents, must also be
\ninvestigated because it was next to impossible that they knew
\nnothing about the misuse of state funds.<\/p>\n
Kemas dismissed allegations that the increased legal activity
\nwas connected to the AGO efforts to increase Megawati's
\nanticorruption image ahead of the July 5 presidential election,
\nsaying that his office had began investigating most of the cases
\nlong before the election was scheduled.<\/p>\n
"We'd never do such a thing just to boost our image or because
\nthe Attorney General's term will come to an end or because of the
\nelection. Most of the cases began two or three years ago. We will
\ninvestigate the heads of local administrations once we finish
\nwith the legislatures," pledged Kemas.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/corruption-rampant-among-councillors-1447893297",
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