Former councillor feels the heat over scam

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After failing to answer a first summons from the Jakarta Police to report for questioning, former City Council speaker Agung Imam Sumanto arrived at city police headquarters on Thursday in a silver Jaguar X-Type, accompanied by his legal advisor Gelora Tarigan and six colleagues from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Agung was grilled for four hours and answered 30 questions posed by the police on his alleged role in a Rp 1 billion (US$108,695) fraud case.

Tarigan said that Agung was summoned "as a suspect as stated in the summons."

However, city police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani had said that Agung was summoned only as a witness although previously the police had already named him a suspect.

The director of PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri's campaign team in Jakarta, Agung was reported to the police by his four business partners.

Tarigan denied a complaint filed by Etty Mustam that Agung had defrauded her. He said Agung had received about Rp 500 million from Etty, but not to help her obtain public transportation licenses as she had claimed.

He said Etty, who is a neighbor of Agung in Buaran, East Jakarta, had asked for his help in 2003 to "smooth the way" for her to obtain licenses for her 200 public minivans.

"Agung asked his friend, H, to help Etty but he never received any money for it. Later, H helped Etty to obtain the licenses and the decree (granting the licenses) is now only waiting for the governor's signature," Tarigan said.

He added that an official with the city transportation agency, NH, had also gave money to Agung and the PDI-P through Etty on a different occasion.

"The money was not for the licenses but for another purpose," Tarigan said, declining to go into details. "I don't understand why Etty has mixed the two things up."