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.