Court begins General Elections Commission corruption trial

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.