Another graft scandal hits South Sulawesi council

Another graft scandal hits South Sulawesi council

Andi Hajramurni and Jongker Rumteh, Makassar/Manado

South Sulawesi provincial councillors are the latest legislature
to be implicated in a corruption case, with members accused of
embezzling Rp 18 billion (US$ 1.9 million) in public funds.

Corruption watchdog the Antigraft Community Coalition here
made public the graft allegations on Thursday, delivering a
report on the case to the North Sulawesi High Prosecutors'
Office.

The coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGO) and
scholars called for the prosecutors' office to immediately
investigate the case. Among the NGOs involved in the coalition
are the Anti Corruption Committee (ACC), the Legislative
Monitoring Committee (Kopel) and Society Corruption Watch (SCW).

"The evidence is clear, as is mentioned in the report. The
prosecutors should be proactive and we are giving them two weeks
to begin probing the case," ACC coordinator Abraham Samad said.

Prosecutors' office head Prasetyo received the report from the
coalition and promised to investigate the case soon.

After the delivery, Bastian Lubis, the director of Patria
Artha Economic College, explained how the Rp 18 billion of
provincial budget funds were allegedly embezzled by the
councillors. He questioned the distribution of the RP 18 billion
in state funds to the councillors, including Rp 6.8 billion worth
of allowances, the purpose of which was unknown.

Disclosures about the questionable activities of provincial
and regional councillors have become common during the past few
months and many in West Sumatra and West Java have been charged
with corruption offenses.

Separately in Manado, the North Sulawesi High Prosecutor's
Office and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) confirmed
they were investigating a graft case involving several officials
with the provincial government and provincial councillors.

The case surrounds alleged irregularities in connection with
the purchase of shares at the Manado Beach Hotel, a four-star
resort located in Manado city, the capital of North Sulawesi
province.

The prosecutor's office has questioned several officials,
including North Sulawesi deputy governor Freddy Sualang and
economic bureau chief Abdi Buchardi, at the provincial
administration.

The office would also soon question North Sulawesi Governor
A.J. Sondakh and several councillors, pending the approval by
President Megawati Soekarnoputri, prosecutors' office spokesman
Robert Ilat said.

Sualang said he and Abdi had already been questioned by
prosecutors last year. Last week, they were questioned again by
members of the KPK. "We were questioned for 10 hours last
Friday," he said.

Spokesman Robert Ilat said his office had named one suspect in
the case, namely J. Saruan, an assistant to the North Sulawesi
governor.

The case dates back when J. Saruan was assigned last year by
the provincial administration to buy shares in Manado Beach Hotel
(MBH) totaling Rp 18 billion (US$ 1.9 million) from the
Indonesian Banking Restructuring Agency (IBRA), the owner of the
hotel. But, only Rp 6.7 billion was so far paid to the IBRA,
while the remaining funds were allegedly distributed among the
councillors and executives.