Former regent named suspect in graft case

Former regent named suspect in graft case

Bengkulu Prosecutor's Office named the former regent of
South Bengkulu and a high-ranking official of the regental
administration as suspects in a corruption case, on Thursday.

They were suspected of involvement in an irregularity in a
feasibility study of a stone mining project in the regency.

The scandal began last year when the suspects signed an
agreement with the president director of Graha Pantura Adibindo
(GPA), who claimed that the company mined stones for use in
cement. The company said that it would conduct a feasibility
study before the commencement of the project.

It was agreed that the regental administration would pay the
company Rp 5.2 billion (US$650,000) for a feasibility study on
the project. In return, the regental administration would be
entitled to a share of the company's profits.

A staff member of the Bengkulu Prosecutor's Office, who
requested anonymity, said the suspects claimed that they had
channeled Rp 1.2 billion to the company for surveying,
transportation, overhead costs and others. However, the
prosecutors' investigation uncovered that the company had not
done any work. While some Rp 700 million in funds had been
returned to the former regent.

The prosecutors dug deeper and found that the company was not
a mining company but a real estate company. The prosecutors had
frozen the former regent's bank account for the purpose of their
investigation.

The five-year term of the former regent ended on March 17,
when he was replaced by Fauzan Djamil.

Prosecutor Jhonny Ginting, an assistant of the special crime
division of the Bengkulu Prosecutor's Office, is looking into the
case. -- Antara