Almost all councillors get jail terms in Padang

Syofiardi Bachyul Padang

A court here sentenced West Sumatra Legislative Council speaker Arwan Kasri, his two deputies and 40 other councillors on Monday to up to two years and three months in prison for embezzling Rp 6.4 billion (US$711,111) of the province's 2002 budget.

All the 43 convicts of the 55-strong council remain free however, as they have appealed. It was the first verdict handed down for a collective graft scam involving legislative members in the country.

Arwan and his two deputies Masfar Rasyid and Titi Nazif Lubuk were found guilty by the Padang District Court of embezzling the funds along with 40 other councillors.

Prosecutors sought four years and six months for the three defendants convicted of violating Law No. 20/2001 on corruption.

However, the prosecutors said the amount was only Rp 5.9 billion, while the judges put it at Rp 6.4 billion.

The corrupted funds included insurance allowances, tactical funds, rent for official houses, cellular phone bills and other allowances, which were allocated for the council members in the 2002 budget.

The court also ordered Arwan to return Rp 116 million to the province, Masfar Rp 117 million and Titi Rp 127 million.

The convicted council leaders told the trial that they would appeal against the verdicts.

The same court also sentenced 40 other councillors to two years in prison in the same graft case.

The 40 defendants were ordered to return between Rp 100 million and 180 million each that they had embezzled and fined Rp 100 million each.

The trials for the 43 councillors, which were held separately in five courtrooms, began at around 11 a.m. They were among the 55 members of the West Sumatra Legislative Council.

Seven other councillors, from the military/police faction, have also been accused of involvement in the same corruption scandal, but their case was handed over to a military court to deal with.

Three other councillors have been named as witnesses, while another was deemed unfit to stand trial due to a stroke and the last member died.

The court verdicts drew applause from hundreds of visitors and students protesters outside the courtroom at the trial of the three council leaders, which was presided over by Judge Bustami Nursyirwan.

Upon hearing the decision, the demonstrators from the Anticorruption Student Forum (Formasi) cheered the panel of judges and prosecutors, while holding a one-minute prayer for them.

However, the Forum of Concerned Citizens for West Sumatra (FPSB), a local community group that brought the case to the authorities two years ago, declined to comment on Monday.

"I have to discuss it first with members of the forum," FPSB coordinator Saldi Isra said.

Director of the Padang-based Legal Aid Institute (LBH) Alfon also hailed the court verdicts against the 43 councillors.

"Though the sentences were more lenient than those demanded by the prosecutors, we welcome them," he said.

Alfon said the court verdicts could be accepted and called on other judges and prosecutors in other regions to follow suit in dealing with similar corruption cases against councillors.

Similarly in the West Java city of Cirebon, the prosecution there has named the entire 30 members of the local legislative council as suspects in a graft case. An investigation is underway.