Finance ministry officials charged with graft
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Prosecutors demanded an 18-month jail sentence for two senior officials of the Ministry of Finance over their alleged involvement in a graft case at the General Elections Commission (KPU).
Suji Darmono and Ishak Harahap, senior officials at the ministry's directorate general for state budgets, were accused of receiving kickback money from the KPU.
Prosecutors of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) also demanded at a court hearing on Thursday that the two suspects to each pay fines amounting to Rp 75 million (about US$7,500) for allegedly receiving nearly US$100,000 in bribe money.
Prosecutor Tumpak Simanjuntak said that Suji had received about Rp 50 million in local currency and $40,000 from KPU deputy treasurer Muhmmad Dentjik between February 2004 and February 2005.
He added that Ishak received Rp 60 million and $39,000 from the same KPU official.
Tumpak said that the two suspects were given the money so that the ministry would approve a request from the KPU for a larger budget, ostensibly to fund the elections.
Lawyers for the two suspects told reporters outside the court that their clients were innocent because they had not sought out the bribe money, but were deliberately framed. The court hearing was adjourned until Oct. 24 to hear the defense statements.
The graft case at the KPU centers on the markup of expenses during the implementation of the 2004 general elections, and the collection of kickbacks by KPU officials from private companies that won business contracts from the commission.
The case was first blown wide open in May by the KPK, when investigators caught KPU member Mulyana W. Kusumah red handed in the act of trying to bribe a state auditor; to influence the auditor to look the other way after discovering some major irregularities in the KPU's accounts.
The court has sentenced Mulyana to three years in jail for his part in the case.
The graft case involving the KPU, which also implicated chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin, is the first case handled by the KPK, which was set up early last year to help curb rampant corruption in the country.
But KPK has been criticized for its handling of the case, and for failing to bring other top KPU officials to justice, including former KPU member Hamid Awaluddin -- currently the Minister of Justice and Human Rights.