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