14 councillors charged with graft

14 councillors charged with graft

Andi Hajramurni and ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Makassar/Sidoarjo

Police here named at least 14 of 75 South Sulawesi legislative
council members as suspects on Thursday in a graft case, while
East Java prosecutors sought a six-year jail term for Sidoarjo
legislature speaker on similar charges.

The 14 suspects, reelected as new South Sulawesi councillors
for the 2004-2009 period, are accused of embezzling some Rp 18.23
billion (US$2.02 million) from the province's 2003 budget.

Eleven of them are Golkar Party councillors -- Saldi Mansyur,
Ichsan Yasin Limpo, Dachlan Maulana, Abdul Madjid Thahir, Hoist
Bahtiar, Ajeip Padindang, Mapparessa Tutu, Aris Pangerang, La
Kamawiyaka, Arfandi Idris and Pangerang Rahim.

The other suspects are Ramli Haba from the National Mandate
Party (PAN) and Machmud Hajar and Hamzah H. Pati Hasan.

Earlier, police had also declared council secretary Syamsuddin
a suspect in the graft.

South Sulawesi Police chief Insp. Gen. Saleh Saaf said on
Thursday the 14 new suspects had been charged following
information collected during two days of questioning Syamsuddin.

"They are considered to know more about the irregularities in
the 2003 budget because they were directly involved in drafting
the allocations of funds when the budget was being revised,"
Saleh argued.

However, he could not say when the 14 legislators would be
summoned for questioning.

Under Article 103 (3) of Government Regulation No. 25/2004,
law enforcers can summon councillors for questioning in a
corruption case without obtaining permission from the home
affairs minister.

"We will discuss this matter. If the new regulation can be
implemented now, we will soon summons the 14 councillors," Saleh
said.

The previous ruling required police or prosecutors to get
permission from the central government to question council
members charged with any crime.

Meanwhile, prosecutors asked the Sidoarjo District Court on
Thursday to sentence local council speaker Utsman Ikhsan to six
years for allegedly misusing Rp 21 billion from the city's 2003
budget.

The defendant, from the National Awakening Party (PKB), was
mostly responsible for corruption, prosecutor Soeprihanto told a
hearing.

Utsman and his lawyer, however, denied any wrongdoing, saying
all Sidoarjo council members should be responsible for a decree
endorsing the allocation of the misused money.

Corruption is rampant in local legislatures across the country
during the reform era since mid 1998, with many members
convicted, standing trial or being questioned.