Councillor gets 4 years for graft

Councillor gets 4 years for graft

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

The Yogyakarta High Court has increased the sentence of convicted
local councillor Herman Abdurrahman, 53, to four years in prison
and fined him Rp 200 million (US$23,529) in a bribery case.

The defendant had been jailed for only two years and fined Rp
10 million by the Yogyakarta District Court last year for his key
role in the Rp 150 million (US$17,647) case.

Herman, who heads the United Development Party (PPP) faction
on the Yogyakarta legislative council, was found guilty of
violating Article 12 of Law No. 20/2001 on corruption.

The appeal court said on Wednesday that it had forwarded its
decision to the district court on Tuesday.

However, the high court did not order the prosecutors to
immediately execute the verdict as Herman said he would appeal to
the Supreme Court.

"I have heard the verdict but I have not yet received a copy
of it from the higher court. I believe that the decision is
politically motivated and is designed to unseat me," Herman said.

"Of course, I will appeal as there is no justice to be had in
Yogyakarta. The court should have been independent and free from
political intervention," he added.

Herman questioned why only he had been declared a suspect and
jailed, while other councillors who also took bribes and had yet
to return the money remained free.

"I never used the money and I returned it all to the
authorities," he said.

The case revolved around the provincial government's move to
seek legislative approval for Rp 9.5 billion in supplemental
funds needed to complete the construction of the Jogja Expo
Center (JEC).

The bribe was reportedly paid by the project's contractor, PT
Adhi Karya, after the local administration complained about a
lack of money.

But the managing director of the company, Duldjiman, was
acquitted of all charges by the district court.

Prosecutors investigating the scandal questioned 24 witnesses,
including provincial secretary Bambang Susanto Priyohadi and
several councillors who received bribes.

Public pressure had been mounting for prosecutors to bring
Bambang and the councillors to court.

Bambang had told the court that he had been pressured to pay
the bribes and was afraid the councillors would disrupt the
construction project, which was inaugurated by President Megawati
Soekarnoputri in January of last year.

Herman's conviction only serves to back up the widely held
belief of rampant corruption within the local legislature, as
well as the bureaucracy and judiciary.

On Tuesday, the Cirebon Prosecutor's Office in West Java
charged all 30 members of the local legislative council and a
former mayor with corruption for allegedly marking up their
allowances.

Chief prosecutor Suraini Dahlan confirmed that the councillors
had been declared suspects in the case, which dates back to 2001.

The suspects include then-Cirebon mayor Lasman Suriaatmadja
and the current deputy mayor, who was a councillor in 2001.

Suraini said the councillors had voted themselves allowances
in the 2001 budget that were higher than the maximum allowed
under government regulations.

He said that they had awarded themselves total allowances of
Rp 997 million compared to the government-set maximum of Rp 400
million.