Councillors named as graft suspects
Ainur R. Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya
Surabaya Legislative Council speaker and his three deputies have been declared suspects and are now being questioned by police detectives over their alleged role in the misappropriation of Rp 20 billion (US$2.15 million) in state funds.
The investigation has been underway for the past month following reports from the local administration and internal audit body the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP).
Chief of police detectives Adj. Sr. Comr. Sigit TH confirmed that he had questioned council speaker M. Basuki of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and deputy speakers Ali Burhan (National Awakening Party), Puji Astuti (Indonesian Military/National Police), and Herman Rivai (National Mandate Party).
"We are now in the process of questioning 45 legislators as witnesses," Sigit said here on Friday.
Interrogations revealed that the four leaders of the legislative council had forced the local administration to disburse the city's reserve funds and distributed the fund among themselves.
There is no clear information on who got how much.
The money was allocated for humanitarian aid as part of the city's contingency plan to deal with flood victims.
Apart from the allegation that they siphoned funds from the city budget, the city councillors are also accused of misappropriating funds from the council's internal budget which is supposed to be spent in emergency situations.
"The money is believed to have been shared among them," Sigit said.
The misappropriation looked professional because the legislators concealed their move by issuing several decrees including SK 03/2002 on council financial affairs, SK 05/2002 on the council's operational funds, and SK 09/2002 on health and accident insurance for councillors.
The issuance of those decrees was done without consulting faction leaders.
Based on the decrees, the councillors received Rp 1.2 billion from the emergency fund, Rp 900 million from the transportation allowance budget, and Rp 1.1 billion from the accident insurance fund per month.
They also disbursed the money, pretending that it would be spent for human resource development.
Basuki, the main suspect, said the graft charges were laid on him and his deputies as an act of political revenge by the city administration and city police.
He insisted that the disbursement of the fund was done according to existing procedures.
"Please open up the case. I am also able to reveal the misconduct of the police and the city administration," he threatened.
The city council dismissed Mayor Bambang Dwi Hartono, Basuki's rival in PDI Perjuangan, for failing to comply with the legislative body's request to revise his accountability report and present it during a plenary session in August.
Bambang emulated his predecessor Sunarto Sumoprawiro, who was dismissed in February. But unlike Sunarto, Bambang received support from the central government to stay in office.
Basuki was dismissed by PDI Perjuangan chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, for a disciplinary offense.
A legislator who requested anonymity acknowledged that he once received a monthly allowance from the council leaders. But, he said, he did not know from where the money came from.
"All I know is that the legislative councillors issued the regulations to benefit themselves," he added.