Deputy Mayor sent to jail as Rp 5b graft suspect
Deputy Mayor sent to jail as Rp 5b graft suspect
Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor
Bogor Deputy Mayor Mochamad Sahid was sent to Paledang Prison on
Thursday after being questioned for nearly six hours at the Bogor
Prosecutor's Office as a suspect in a graft case.
Sahid was accused of involvement in the misuse of around Rp
5.53 billion (US$605,033) of the 2002 Bogor City Council budget
when he was the speaker.
The prosecutors charged him under the 2001 Anticorruption Law
and issued a detention order valid for two weeks to prevent the
suspect evading the law during the investigation.
Sahid cried when he was asked to sign the detention order
which he finally signed after being persuaded to do so by his
lawyers. He was taken in the Prosecutor's Office paddy wagon to
the prison while his official car tailed behind.
A Paledang guard was shocked to see Sahid's arrival.
"We don't know where to put Pak Sahid because we are still
waiting for the decision of the penitentiary warden," said
Ramdani Boy, a guard at the prison.
"I do not regret this ... I want to show what kind of justice
prevails in this country, I feel that I have been victimized,"
Sahid said.
The prosecutors -- comprising of team head Indrasyah Nasution,
Nasran Aziz, Sapto D. Kusumah, Baza Telaumbanua, Febrianda and
Dedy F. Rajagukguk -- asked the deputy mayor 30 questions.
The questioning, which started on Aug. 30, followed an earlier
questioning of 25 other councillors, who had served their 1999-
2004 tenure. Former mayor Iswara Natanegara was also questioned.
The prosecutors suspected misappropriation in the allocation
of the council money which was supposed to be used to finance the
activities of council members.
Witness Asep Saeful, who was then head of the financial
division at the Bogor Council, said that Sahid ordered him to
release the money on July 14, 2002.
Sahid had been reported to the police earlier this year over
an allegation that he submitted a fake high school diploma to run
in the mayoral election as the deputy of incumbent Mayor Diani
Budiarto.