Corruption-Lampung-governor
Oyos Saroso HN, The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung, Lampung
A district court in Bandarlampung began on Wednesday a much- awaited court trial involving defendant Alzier Dianis Thabrani, the governor-elect of Lampung province.
He was indicted for diploma abuse and fraud that he allegedly committed two years ago.
The trial session, which was marred by rowdy protests from Alzier's supporters outside the courtroom, began at 9:40 a.m.
Ignoring the rowdy protest, prosecutor RO Siahaan began reading his indictment and accused the governor-elect of violating Article 378 of the Criminal Code and Article 19 of Law No. 2/1989 on the System of National Education.
Both articles, which rule on the fraud and the abuse of school diplomas respectively, carry maximum sentences of four years for fraud and 18 months for the abuse of a school diploma.
Besides listening to the prosecutor's indictment, presiding judge Gani Parlaungan also heard testimonies from four witnesses at the trial session including Dedi Hidayat, the former head of state-owned fertilizer company PT Pupuk Sriwijaya's (PT Pusri) Lampung branch, and Murni, a staffer with CV Wisata, a fertilizer distributor company owned by defendant Alzier.
Both judge and prosecutor directed their questions to witnesses on the purchase of 500 tons of fertilizer worth Rp 500 million (US$62,500) by CV Wisata, one of the distributors of PT Pusri. The witnesses said that CV Wisata bought the fertilizer from PT Pusri's Lampung branch in 2001, barely a year before Alzier was elected Lampung governor.
CV Wisata continued with other purchases, accumulating total debts of Rp 11 billion (US$1,375,000), said the witnesses. They admitted that Alzier did repay by installment, although he had yet been unable to clear the debts totally.
Meanwhile, the witnesses also confirmed in the trial session that the defendant often used bogus academic titles in the documents for fertilizer transactions, although in fact, he had not obtained titles from any educational institution.
These included Drs (a qualification for a social science graduate), SE (economics graduate) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Open University. Alzier also used the titles on his registration forms when he ran in the Lampung gubernatorial election in November last year. "The indictment was not true," Alzier told the court.
The session, which lasted three hours, was adjourned until Oct. 29.
The court session, which is overshadowed by a political intrigue, dates back to the election of Lampung governor last year. At that time, Alzier, along with running mate Ansory Yunus, participated in the Lampung gubernatorial election, although they were warned previously by the executive board of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) not to do so. Alzier is the former chairman of PDI Perjuangan's South Lampung branch.
They won the election in December last year despite opposition by the central board of PDI Perjuangan, but at huge political cost. Alzier, Ansory and dozens of other South Lampung members of PDI Perjuangan were dismissed from the party for disobedience.
Ten months have passed since he was elected, but he has yet to be inaugurated as Lampung governor. President Megawati, who is also the chairwoman of PDI Perjuangan, has refused to inaugurate him as governor on the grounds that he was the subject of a criminal prosecution.
The backlash did not stop there; Alzier was taken to court later on for school diploma abuse and fraud concerning fertilizer transactions. Alzier is now under city arrest by order of the Tanjungkarang court.