Aceh court slammed for freeing charged council members
Aceh court slammed for freeing charged council members
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Banda Aceh District Court ordered the release of 10
councillors being detained on graft charges, prosecutors and
their lawyers said on Monday, while hundreds of protesters staged
protests in several regions to demand legal action against
corrupt lawmakers.
The court, however, ordered prosecutors to put the 10 local
councillors under city arrest for their alleged role in
embezzling Rp 5.6 billion (US$622,222) from the city budget.
Judges, who issued the order on Aug. 28, 2004, argued that the
councillors had tasks to attend to, such as attending a crucial
plenary meeting.
The court order drew ire from prosecutors and local people,
who questioned the judges' commitment to bringing the charged
councillors to justice.
Banda Aceh Prosecutor's Office head Pribadi Soewandi said on
Monday he would file a complaint with the district court against
the councillors' release.
Coordinator of local non-governmental organization (NGO) Aceh
Court Monitoring Foundation Rufriadi deplored the decision,
saying that the councillors could attend the plenary meeting
without having their status changed.
The 10 defendants had been detained since Feb. 9.
In the Central Java city of Surakarta, police questioned five
members of the local legislative council on Monday, including its
speaker and his deputy, for their alleged involvement in a Rp 4.5
billion graft case.
The police embarked on the probe after a complaint was filed
by several NGOs grouped in the Forum for Surakarta City Budget
Concern.
The NGOs said that the councillors blatantly violated
Government Regulation No. 110/2000, which stipulates that the
budget allocated for the council must not exceed the benchmark of
10 percent of the city revenue.
"The city revenue averages between Rp 53 billion and Rp 55
billion, therefore the funds allotted for the council's operation
should stand at around Rp 5.3 billion per year," said Alif
Basuki, who spoke on behalf of the NGOs.
He alleged that the council members had embezzled around Rp
4.5 billion from the city coffers.
One of the charged council members, Bambang Mudiarto, denied
the corruption allegations, saying the government regulation had
been annulled by the Supreme Court through a judicial review. He
did not elaborate.
In Bandung, West Java, some 500 students and workers
demonstrated during the swearing-in ceremony of new 100 council
members.
The protesters demanded that councillors from the earlier term
be brought to court for misusing Rp 25 billion from the 2002 city
budget, with the alleged complicity of West Java Governor Danny
Setiawan.
They demanded that prosecutors be proactive in pursuing legal
action against local councillors after three of them were named
suspects.
Meanwhile in Samarinda, of the 45 new East Kalimantan council
members, only 11 agreed to sign a pact stating that they would
not be involved in corruption during their tenure.
The 11 councillors agreed to the move only after a tense
argument with protesters on Monday, which marred the swearing-in
ceremony of the new 45 council members for the 2004-2005 period.
In Batam, dozens of protesters staged a similar protest,
demanding that local councillors from the 1999-2004 term be
brought to court on corruption charges.
They insisted that the local elections commission postpone the
councillors' inauguration, pending the result of a probe into
corruption allegations.