Corruption scandal linked to Tentena attack

Corruption scandal linked to Tentena attack

The Jakarta Post, Palu, Jakarta

Central Sulawesi Police announced on Tuesday that the bombings in
the Christian town of Tentena that killed 21 people on Saturday
were not carried out by suicide bombers.

There are now suspicions that the attack was aimed at
diverting attention from a corruption scandal in Poso regency,
Central Sulawesi.

Police and local religious leaders earlier said the attack may
have been the work of a suicide bomber after the authorities
found the body of an unidentified man among the victims. The man
was later identified as Syamsul Iskandar.

"What was said earlier about Iskandar was merely preliminary
suspicions. Now everything is clear, meaning that the victim was
not a suicide bomber," Central Sulawesi Police spokesman Adj. Sr.
Comr. Rais Adam told The Jakarta Post.

He said Iskandar was a vendor at the devastated market in
Tentena, some 60 kilometers north of Poso, adding that the victim
was from Enrekang regency in South Sulawesi and his body had been
returned to his family for burial.

In a new development, Poso Police arrested on Tuesday two men
suspected of involvement in the Tentena bombing. They were
identified as Abdul Kadir Sidik and Elvis.

Kadir and Elvis were apprehended after witnesses reported
seeing the men in Tentena before the bombings, said Poso Police
chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Mohammad Sholeh Hidayat.

He said the suspects were being questioned by a joint team of
investigators from the National Police and the Central Sulawesi
Police.

The two men, both former government officials in Poso, should
be serving prison sentences for corruption. They were convicted
of embezzling Rp 2.3 billion (US$242,105) in funds meant for
refugees affected by three years of sectarian fighting in Poso.

Three other people -- former activists Andi Makkasau and Ahmad
Laparigi, and the former head of the Poso social affairs office,
Anwar Ali -- were taken from their prison cells for questioning
over the bombing.

Makkasau, Laparigi and Ali were all convicted of corruption in
the same refugee fund scandal.

The police also are questioning the warden of Poso prison,
Hasman, to determine why Kadir and Alvis were released early.
Officers also want to know why two convicted murderers, Supratman
and Jufri, were arrested in a police raid in Poso when they
should have been in the prison.

Hasman was arrested in the same raid in Poso, during which
officers found a gun in his car, along with Supratman and Jufri,
who were convicted of a murder in South Bungkul in neighboring
Morowali regency.

Laparigi, Makkasau and Kadir Sidik were also allegedly
involved in the beheading of the Pinedapa village chief in Poso
Pesisir district last year. The murdered village head was
reportedly a key witness in corruption cases involving refugee
funds.

In Jakarta on Tuesday, the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal
Aid Institute and several Poso NGOs, including the Institute for
Strengthening the Poso Community and the Foundation for a Free
Land, said the Tentena attack could be linked with corruption in
Poso.

Speaking at a press conference, they pointed out that most of
the suspects being questioned over the attack were corruption
convicts.

However, Vice President Jusuf Kalla dismissed speculation the
Tentena attack was meant to divert attention from corruption in
Poso, which allegedly involves local senior officials,
businesspeople and activists.

"Those involved in corruption do not kill people to divert
attention. They usually run away or flee abroad. That is their
nature. I think it is illogical to say this attack was for their
own benefit," he said.

Kalla said terrorists were behind the bombings. "The police
have done a good job. They have arrested a number of suspects.
They are definitely part of an extremist group that has been
operating there for a long time."

The death toll from the bombings was revised by local police
to 21 on Tuesday, with more than 70 people injured.