Former chief of Yogyakarta social affairs office faces corruption charges

Former chief of Yogyakarta social affairs office faces corruption charges

Sri Wayuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

A former head of the Yogyakarta provincial social affairs office
is facing charges of illegally selling state property during his
tenure, causing losses to the state of more than Rp 310 billion.

The trial of Suyitno began on Wednesday at the Yogyakarta
District Court and is being presided over by chief judge
Soemilah.

In a nine-page statement read out during the trial, prosecutor
Kamari accused Suyitno of unlawfully selling at least 21
motorcycles and cars belonging to his already-liquidated office.

The sales were allegedly conducted through three illegal
auctions held on Jan. 15, 2000, Jan. 28, 2000 and March 6, 2000,
at the former social affairs office in the Bantul district,
Kamari added.

He said the social affairs office auctioned eleven
motorcycles, eight vans, one truck and one minibus. The sales
were apparently designed to write off the vehicles.

"The defendant's act has caused financial losses of around Rp
313 billion to the state," Kamari told the court hearing.

He said the auctions were illegal and not transparent because
they were held in violation of a decree issued by the Ministry of
Finance regulating proper procedures on the auctioning and write-
off of state property.

The prosecutor said the defendant lied to the secretary
general of the social affairs ministry when he proposed a plan to
write off the vehicles, claiming they were mostly malfunctioning
and could no longer be repaired.

"In fact, they (the vehicles) were still able to operate
well," he said, adding that Suyitno failed to prove his claims.

Kamari also said the defendant had sold the vehicles for more
than the market price but did not report the total amount of the
sales to his office, and instead corruptly took some of the
money.

The prosecutor, therefore, accused Suyitno of violating
corruption laws, which carry a maximum penalty of 20 years
imprisonment.

The trial was adjourned until next week to hear arguments from
the defendant's lawyers Setyohardjo, Sri Suyati and Mulyadi of
the Yogyakarta-based Setyohardjo Law Office.

The Yogyakarta District Court was also trying two similar
corruption cases involving the former head of the province's
cooperatives office, Syahbenol Hasibuan, and the former head of
the local industry and trade office, Moesono.