Ex-councillors off the hook

Ex-councillors off the hook

CIREBON, West Java: A district court acquitted here on Monday
10 former chiefs and members of the Cirebon legislative council
of graft charges of embezzling almost Rp 1 billion (US$111,111)
of the city's 2001 budget.

The Cirebon District Court said the defendants were not proven
guilty of involvement in corruption as indicted by prosecutors,
who demanded that they be sentenced to two years' imprisonment.

The prosecutors charged the defendants, including former
council speaker Suryana and his deputies, Sunaryo HW and Haries
Sutamin, with pocketing over Rp 997 million in state funds for
personal gain.

The council earmarked Rp 1.3 billion for its operational
allowances in 2001, which the prosecutors said was against
Government Regulation No. 110/2000.

Under the ruling, Cirebon should have allocated only Rp 400
million, or 10 percent of the city's original income that reached
Rp 23 billion, for the council's operational allowances.

The former councillors had, therefore, allegedly embezzled Rp
997,768,000 of the funds that should have been returned to the
state, the prosecutors added. --JP