Defendants want charges dropped

JAKARTA: Harun Let Let and Tarcisius Walla, who have been accused of graft, demanded charges against them be dropped because the alleged crime took place before the enactment of Law No. 30/2002 on corruption.

Reading their exceptions separately at the corruption court on Monday, the two said the law was not retroactive and that the indictments made by the prosecutors were obscure, incomplete, and inaccurately drafted.

Let Let and Walla have been accused of involvement in a Rp 10.26 billion (US$1.1 million) corruption case connected to the development of a port in Uf village in the Pulau Kei district of Southeast Maluku.

Let Let was head of the finance division at the Directorate General of Sea Transportation, while Walla was the directorate's secretary. --Antara

;JP;Antara;MUN; ANPAa..r.. ~Scene-immigration-meet Immigration officials meet at palace JP/4/SCENE

Immigration officials meet at palace

JAKARTA: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono opened on Monday a two-day meeting of immigration officials at the State Palace.

The meeting was attended by 240 officials from across the country and abroad.

Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin said that the participants would discuss standardizing services at the office in a bid to improve its performance.

The President said that the government considered the office played an important and strategic and asked the officials to improve its performance.

He also told them to set up an electronic immigration system to reduce direct contact between customers and officials in a bid to prevent possible corruption. -- JP