Ex councillor gets four years jail

BANDUNG/MATARAM: Bandung District Court sentenced on Thursday Kurdi Moekri, a former West Java councillor, to four years in prison for graft that brought losses to the state amounting to Rp 24.9 billion (US$2.49 million).

The defendant, who served on the council between 1994 and 2004, was found guilty of disbursing the money to the councillors for a housing allowance, while the money should have been allocated for the welfare of West Java Police and prosecutors. The money was taken from the West Java provincial budget between 2001 and 2002.

Separately, a West Nusa Tenggara prosecutor recommended that a local district court sentence 11 former councillors in a similar graft case.

The graft case had brought losses to the state amounting to Rp 17.5 billion, said prosecutor Maryadi during a court session in Mataram, the capital of West Nusa Tenggara. -- JP