Council chief arrested for graft

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.