Amien's sister pays back 'hot money'

Amien's sister pays back 'hot money'

PALEMBANG, South Sumatra: Fatimah Rais, the elder sister of People's Consultative Assembly speaker Amien Rais, was among the 75 members of the South Sumatra provincial legislature accused of taking "hot money" amounting to Rp 100 million each.

However, she and the other 12 have returned the money in installments after the legislature bowed to local people's demand to cancel the allocation of the funds from the provincial budget.

The money was part of Rp 7.5 billion which was initially allotted toward operational funds for the 75 councillors. The council later scrapped the funds in response to mounting protests from local people.

Meanwhile, 61 other councillors, including the legislature speaker, have also agreed to return the money, but were unable to do so as of yet.

Only one legislator, Yuswar Hidayatullah of the Justice Party, refused to return his share. -- Antara