Councillors named as graft suspects
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.