Corruption-Lampung-governor

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.