Controversial regent flies to Tanjungpinang to face trial

Controversial regent flies to Tanjungpinang to face trial

Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru

Controversial regent Huzrin Hood of Riau Island is set to stand
trial immediately for embezzling Rp 4.3 billion (US$524,390) from
the province's 2001 budget which was allegedly used to buy
political support for the formation of Riau Island province.

Chief of the government prosecutor's office in Pekanbaru
Muhammad Hussaini said that he had ordered the prosecutor's
office in Tanjungpinang to bring the case to court as soon as
possible.

"Today, we hand over the suspect, his dossier and all material
evidence to the prosecutor's office in Tanjungpinang and appoint
a prosecutor to prosecute the suspect in court," he said after
handing over the suspect in a ceremony here on Wednesday.

Huzrin who was accompanied by dozens of supporters and a team
of lawyers, flew in a chartered aircraft to Tanjungpinang.

Upon his arrival in Tanjungpinang, Huzrin was greeted by
dozens of supporters, but later was put in Tanjungpinang prison.

Huzrin, who was nabbed at an apartment in Jakarta over the
weekend, was transferred to Pekanbaru for intensive interrogation
by the prosecutor's office.

Anomalies were revealed when a team of the Supreme Audit
Agency (BPK) found irregularities in its audit of the regency
administration in 2001, causing Rp 87.2 billion in losses to the
state.

Hussaini rejected BPK's figure, saying his office reported
that the suspect embezzled only Rp 4.3 billion, which, in the
latter's report, was donated to several local NGOs that were
later found to be fictitious.

This was exposed to the public following the endorsement by
the House of Representatives of the law on the formation of Riau
Island province in 2002. Responding to strong opposition from the
mother province of Riau and the resource-rich Natuna Islands,
President Megawati Soekarnoputri issued a decree earlier this
year to delay the formation of the new province.

Many believe that the embezzled funds were used to finance the
trip of hundreds of local people to Jakarta to voice support for
the new province at the House when legislators were deliberating
legislation on the issue.