Council chief arrested for graft

Oyos Saroso HN, The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung, Lampung

Prosecutors in Lampung province forcibly detained the Tanggamus legislative council speaker on Tuesday for allegedly defying their summonses for questioning as a suspect in a corruption case.

Muaz Munziri, 50, from the Golkar Party, was arrested at around 2:30 p.m. and immediately moved to a cell at the Lampung Prosecutor's Office.

Prosecutors said Muaz did not cooperate with them as he failed to comply with summonses for questioning on a charge of involvement in the Rp 206 million (US$24,235) graft case.

The funds belonged to the Makmur cooperatives unit in South Lampung, which was chaired by Muaz. The money was intended to be used to finance soft loans for local farmers. His treasurer, identified only as Herli, was also charged in the same case.

The Lampung Prosecutor's Office issued three summonses to the suspect starting early this month, but he failed to show up for questioning and instead sent his lawyer, Ariansyah, to represent him.

Ariansyah said his client could not appear because he was sick.

But head of the Lampung Prosecutors' Office I Putu Kusa rejected the excuse and accused Muaz of belittling investigators.

"We have been tolerant enough, but he seems to have ignored us and hindered the progress of the investigation," Kusa said.

He said his office had set Aug. 14 as the deadline for Muaz to appear, otherwise he would be arrested by force.

Ariansyah insisted that Muaz, a former Golkar chairman for Tanggamus regency, was unfit to face questioning. "It's not true that my client tried to deliberately hamper the investigation."

The lawyer also denied that his client had been arrested, but had gone voluntarily to the Lampung Prosecutor's Office.

Earlier, chief of Lampung Police detectives Sr. Comr. Suharya said his personnel were ready to help prosecutors arrest Muaz.

A team of officers had been established to search for the suspect, Suharya added.