Defendants freed for lack of evidence

JAMBI: Four graft suspects who allegedly stole a total of Rp 10 billion (US$1.1 million) from regional governments have been freed by the Jambi District Court during the past six months because there was a lack of evidence to convict them.

Senior prosecutor Andi Azhari said he was concerned about the dropped cases but said Jambi prosecutors had done their best to convict the four.

The four defendants were former councillors from three different regencies in the province. They were Kardini and Hefni Zen Ibnu from Sarolangun regency, Ibnu Hajar from East Tanjungjabung regency and Machludin Achmad from West Tanjungjabung regency.

The four served the three regencies between 1999 and 2004. - JP