Education ministry officials arrested

JAKARTA: Three officials from the Directorate General for Higher Education at the Ministry of National Education have been arrested for on corruption charges that allegedly inflicted losses of around Rp 6 billion (US$615,000) for the state.

Dedy Abdul Halim, head of the academic lecturer empowerment project 2004, along with staff members Elan Suherlan and Helmi Untung, have been detained since July 25 at National Police Headquarters. The graft case is being handled by the interdepartmental anticorruption team.

Deputy head of the team Brig. Gen. Indarto said on Monday that the suspects would be charged under Law No. 31/1999 on graft and article 263 of the Criminal Code for document forgery.

Indarto said that the suspects forged documents sent to the Directorate General for Budgeting Affairs at the Ministry of Finance seeking Rp 6 billion in funds to finance the academic lecturer empowerment project. -- JP