Court begins General Elections Commission corruption trial
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Anticorruption Court began on Thursday the trial of Mulyana W. Kusumah in a high-profile graft case at the General Elections Commission (KPU), seen as a key test of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's commitment to the national war against corruption.
KPU member Mulyana was caught red-handed by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) at a Jakarta hotel trying to bribe an official of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to overlook financial irregularities at the KPU in organizing last year's general election.
The case has opened the way for the KPK to investigate alleged corruption at the election body.
In Thursday's hearing, which lasted about 40 minutes, the prosecution team accused Mulyana, who is also a prominent criminologist from the University of Indonesia, of attempting to give Rp 300 million (about US$32,000) to BPK auditor Khairiansah to influence the audit result.
State prosecutor Suwarji told the special court that Mulyana had asked the auditor to "erase findings indicating discrepancies in the supplying of ballot boxes, or at least to ensure the investigative report on the procurement ... would be free from things that could lead to graft accusations".
Mulyana was caught during a second encounter on April 8 with Khairiansah, whom KPK investigators had wired with a recorder.
Mulyana argued he was forced into a trap. His lawyer on Thursday asked the court to place Mulyana under city arrest, rather than holding him in a prison cell as he is being kept at present. The judges are yet to decide.
During the past three months of investigation, the KPK has expanded the case from a bribery case into a corruption case, which has centered around the marking up of election materials and the collection of kickbacks by the KPU from private firms that secured procurement contracts with the elections commission.
In addition to Mulyana, four other KPU members and officials, including its head Nazaruddin Syamsuddin, have been named as suspects. Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin, who is a former member of the KPU, was also summoned for questioning, a process that was delayed several times due to his role as the government's chief negotiator in peace talks with leaders of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Helsinki.
One of the suspects admitted the KPU had collected some Rp 20 billion in kickbacks from private firms and said the funds had been distributed to all KPU officials, as well as some lawmakers and BPK officials.
On Wednesday, BPK deputy chief Abdullah Zainie admitted to receiving some Rp 100 million from the KPU last year. At the time he was still head of the House of Representatives budgetary commission. He claims to have returned the money after the case emerged.
The case has drawn widespread public attention, particularly as other prominent names may be involved, and it is seen as a key test of Susilo's pledge to curb corruption.
The KPU has been credited with the success of last year's elections, which brought Susilo to power in October, partly due to his anticorruption agenda.