10 officials reported to police for graft

JAYAPURA, Papua: Jayawijaya Regent David Augustin Hubi has reported 10 members of his staff to police for their alleged involvement in a graft case. The 10 were suspected of having embezzled state funds earmarked for paying expenses to teachers in the regency.

The alleged graft came to light after hundreds of teachers complained last month that they had not received their expenses for the past two years. To press home their demands for the money, they staged a strike last month.

The 10 civil servants involved are mostly employed by the regental education office. "They will be questioned soon," Yogi, a senior official in the regental administration, quoted the regent as saying. The regent has promised that his administration will pay the teachers' expenses on March 25. -- Antara