30 councillors charged in graft case

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon, West Java

All 30 members of the Cirebon municipal legislative council (DPRD) have officially been named suspects for allegedly misusing hundreds of million of rupiah out of the city's budget in 2001.

Prosecutors also charged deputy mayor Agus Alwafier and former Cirebon mayor Lesmana Suriaatmadja, who served from 1998 to 2003, with involvement in the same case.

"We have begun questioning the council's leaders one by one. We will question the deputy mayor as he was then the council's deputy speaker, who approved the budget in 2001," Cirebon Prosecutor's Office head Suraini Dahlan told reporters here on Tuesday.

He was accompanied by the prosecutor's office's head of special crimes, Iwa Pribawa, and head of intelligence affairs, Basuki.

Suraini promised to press ahead with investigating the corruption scandal, locally dubbed Budget-gate.

"We (prosecutors) have summoned council leaders for questioning as suspects on charges of violating Law No. 31/1999 on corruption," he said.

It was reported on Monday that council speaker Suryana and his deputy Sunaryo HW had been summoned by the prosecutors.

Sunaryo complied with the summons and was questioned for several hours, but Suryana failed to turn up as he had to preside over a plenary session to hear an accountability statement from Cirebon Mayor Subardi.

On Wednesday, the prosecutor's office is to summon another deputy speaker, Haries Sutamin, and former deputy speaker and current Cirebon deputy mayor, Agus Alwafier.

Former mayor Lesmana Suriaatmadja had previously been questioned in August of last year.

The four other councillors who were questioned were Setyawan from the National Mandate Party (PAN), Dahrin Syahrir and Ade Anwar Syam, both from the Golkar Party, and Djarot Adi Sutarto from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.

According to Suraini, the council members had been charged as they were directly involved in approving the 2001 budget, which he said was in violation of the prevailing regulations.

The alleged corruption currently being probed by the prosecutors involved the councilors expenses.

Suraini said the money paid out in expenses exceeded the maximum amount permitted by Government Regulation No. 110/2002.

"The allowances paid to Cirebon council members reached up to Rp 997 million (US$120,000.00) in 2001, while under Government Regulation No. 110, the maximum amount must not exceed Rp 400 million. We will also investigate whether the allocation of Rp 400 million was determined in accordance with the regulations," he added.

As Suraini was holding his press conference, dozens of students grouped in the Cirebon Youth and Students Coalition staged a rally outside the Cirebon Prosecutors' Office on Jl. Dr Wahidin Sudirohusodo.

Protest leader Agung Supirno said that 12 protesters had started a hunger strike on Tuesday night and would only end their protest after prosecutors had thoroughly investigated the irregularities in the 2001 local budget.