Padang councillors jailed for corruption<\/p>\n
Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, The Jakarta Post, Padang<\/p>\n
Thirteen out of 45 Padang councillors were sentenced to four
\nyears in jail each on Tuesday following their convictions on
\ngraft charges.<\/p>\n
In a precedent-setting case, the councillors were also ordered
\nto return the money they had misappropriated to the tune of
\nbetween Rp 207 million and Rp 324 million each. The jail
\nsentences were lighter than had been sought by the prosecution,
\nwhich had recommended six years in jail for each of the
\ncouncillors.<\/p>\n
The 13 councillors were tried for misappropriating Rp 8.4
\nbillion (US$893,700) from the 2001 and 2002 Padang municipal
\nbudgets.<\/p>\n
Of the 13 councillors, all of whom served on the Padang city
\ncouncil between 1999 and 2004, three were former council leaders,
\nnamely, Maigus Nasie, the former council speaker, and deputy
\nspeakers Muhidi and Chairul Indra.<\/p>\n
The court, which was presided over by Judge Busra, said in its
\nverdict that the councillors were guilty of misappropriating
\nstate funds for their personal enrichment. They had passed the
\nbudget for the municipal council, but the budget had violated the
\nrelevant legislation on local government budgeting.<\/p>\n
Busra said that if the councillors had adhered to the
\nlegislation, they would have only awarded themselves allowances
\namounting to Rp 3 million per month for the council speaker, Rp
\n2.6 million for each deputy speaker and Rp 2 million for each
\ncouncil member. "But, the defendants obtained much more than that
\nthrough financial engineering involving the council budget," said
\nBusra.<\/p>\n
Busra did not give any details on how much money had illegally
\naccrued to each councillor, saying only that under the 2001
\nbudget, the 45 councillors had profited to the tune of Rp 2.35
\nbillion in monthly allowances, while in 2002 the equivalent
\nfigure had been Rp 2.98 billion per month.<\/p>\n
The case surfaced last year when 40 out of a total of 45
\ncouncillors were named suspects in the case. The remaining five
\ncouncillors were not charged as suspects by the civilian prosecutors
\nas four of them were Indonesian military (TNI) officers and the
\nother had died.<\/p>\n
The 40 councillors went on trial in March of last year.<\/p>\n
The thirteen councilors were sentenced on Tuesday, while the
\nremaining 27 are still on trial in the same district court. Two
\nweeks ago, Padang prosecutors urged the court to sentence the 27
\ncouncillors to six years in jail.<\/p>\n
The prosecution of the 40 councillors was among the first such
\ncases in the country. Since then, similar prosecutions have been
\nbrought in many other areas.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/padang-councillors-jailed-for-corruption-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}