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.