Councillor jailed over fake diploma

BANDARLAMPUNG, Lampung: The Tanjungkarang High Court endorsed on Tuesday a verdict by a lower court that sentenced councillor Dwi Sutarno to 10 months in jail with a probation period of 20 months, for forging a school diploma.

Sutarno, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), was elected a councillor on the Lampung municipality council, after the April 5 general election.

Ridwan Saifuddin, a member at the local General Elections Commission (KPUD), said that the verdict had prompted the KPUD to disqualify Sutarno from being a councillor on the municipality council for the 2004 to 2009 term. -- JP