Councilor implicates colleagues in graft
Councilor implicates colleagues in graft
Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
One of two main suspects in a corruption case involving Jogja
Expo Center (JEC), Herman Abdurrahman, revealed here on Saturday
that more than half of all local legislators were involved in the
scam and demanded they be charged along with him.
Herman, who is chairman of the United Development Party (PPP)
faction in the Yogyakarta provincial legislative council, was
speaking to the media after being questioned for seven hours by
prosecutors.
"I will not let myself be the only suspect in the
case. My testimony to the prosecutors will soon drag
other members of the legislative council into the same case," he
said, without elaborating further.
Herman, who was accompanied by five lawyers, was questioned
for the first time at the province's prosecutor's office on
Saturday in relation to the high-profile JEC scandal, after being
summoned three times before to attend.
Herman was named in February as one of two suspects in the Rp
150 million corruption scandal.
In March, Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno gave
permission for Herman to be summoned, which is required under the
prevailing law to question provincial legislators implicated in
criminal cases.
Another suspect was the director of Yogyakarta's state-run
construction firm PT Adhi Karya, Duljiman, who has been charged
with giving Herman Rp 150 million in bribes for councillors in a
bid to support the project.
The bribes were believed to have helped smooth the last
disbursement of Rp 9 billion from the provincial administration
to the company involved in the JEC renovation project.
The central government also partly financed the project, which
cost Rp 42.5 billion.
Herman said that during the probe, prosecutors asked him about
"decision-making procedures in the council" in connection with
the provincial administration's plan to build the JEC.
"I answered all the questions frankly, without hiding any
facts," he added.
Ranu Miharja, a spokesman for the local prosecutor's office,
said Herman also admitted negotiations had taken place between
several legislators, local officials and representatives from PT
Adhi Karya before the project had been approved.
"He was cooperative during the first session of questioning,"
he said, adding that Herman would be questioned again on Monday.
Ranu underlined the questioning was aimed at finding out
whether other legislators were also involved in the scandal or
not.
Bowing to public pressure, Herman admitted in late February
that he had received a total of Rp 150 million from an unknown
sender in his Bank Bali account on Jan. 4 and Jan. 9.
He claimed to have sent the money back to the sender's Bank
Mandiri account on Jan. 15.
However, the PPP investigation team discovered Herman had only
returned the money a month later, on Feb. 15.
Yogyakarta provincial councillors have also been implicated in
a separate political scandal involving Rp 1 billion over last
year's vice gubernatorial election, in which Paku Alaman Palace
Sultan Paku Alam IX defeated his step brother Prince
Anglingkusumo.
They were also accused of taking bribes from both candidates,
prompting the prosecutor's office to investigate the case.