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.