27 more Padang councillors sent to prison

27 more Padang councillors sent to prison

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, The Jakarta Post, Padang

Twenty-seven Padang councillors were sentenced to four years in
jail on Wednesday for graft, in a verdict that has given a boost
to the nationwide anticorruption drive.

Besides sending the defendants to prison, the Padang District
Court also fined them Rp 200 million (US$21,050) each. The ex-
councillors were also ordered to repay the state money they
stole, which amounts to Rp 172 million to Rp 246 million each.

In her verdict, presiding judge Bettina Yahya said that the 27
defendants, who served Padang between 1999 and 2004, had been
proven guilty of misappropriating Padang budget funds for 2001
and 2002 for their personal enrichment. They passed the budget
for the municipal council, but the budget had violated central
government legislation on local government budgeting.

The judge said that if the councillors had adhered to the
legislation, they would have only awarded themselves allowances
amounting to Rp 3 million per month for the council speaker, Rp
2.6 million for each deputy speaker and Rp 2 million for each
council member. "But the defendants obtained much more than that
through financial manipulation involving the council budget,"
said the judge.

Shortly after the verdict was read, the defendants stated
their intention to appeal. They said that the central government
regulation had been overturned by the Supreme Court and therefore
they should not have been charged with violating it.

The prosecutors also intend to appeal the sentences, saying
that they were too light. They had requested six-year sentences
for the councillors.

Wednesday's hearing was the third trial involving Padang city
councillors charged with graft. The first court case began in
March last year.

The district court previously sentenced three leaders of
Padang City Council to four years in prison for graft and later
another 10 councillors were handed the same sentences. All remain
free on appeals.

The 27 councillors are the last of the 40, out of the 45
Padang councillors, to be tried by the district court. The
remaining five escaped district court prosecution as one died,
while four others faced a military tribunal.

The trials set a precedent, with similar court prosecutions
targeting local councillors following not long after the Padang
case surfaced.

Similar to the Padang councillors, councillors in other
cities, who were elected through free and fair elections in 1999,
were taken to court for inflating the regency budget for their
personal enrichment.

Separately in West Sumatra, three former leaders of the
Sawahlunto Sijunjung regental council were also sentenced on
Wednesday to two years in prison each for graft.

The three, who were among 31 former councillors in the
regency, were charged with misappropriating state money amounting
to Rp 429.7 million.