JP/7/graft

Suspect speaks out against alleged bribery scandal

Asip A. Hasani The Jakarta Post Yogyakarta

Herman Abdurrahman, the United Development Party (PPP) faction chairman in the Yogyakarta provincial legislative council, has spoken out after he was named one of the two suspects in the alleged bribery over the Rp 42.5 billion development project of the Jogja Expo Center (JEC).

"Why do you all keep pursuing this issue, which only involves Rp 150 million, while ignoring another that involves Rp 1 billion?" he argued.

Herman, who has served as a PPP legislator since 1992, was referring to the alleged Rp 1 billion bribery case from last year's election of Paku Alam as deputy Yogyakarta governor by the council.

The media has been publishing both alleged corruption scandals almost every day since late last year when Golkar Party faction chairman Khaeruddin publicly admitted he was given an envelope containing Rp 5 million by a fellow legislator.

He said other legislators also received a similar amount of money in return for their approval of the last disbursement of Rp 9.5 billion in state funds to state-owned construction company PT Adhi Karya to finance the JEC development project.

A legislator of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) also made a similar confession. However, he declined to mention the amount of money inside the envelope he received.

"This revelation is actually a counterattack from the Golkar and PDI Perjuangan factions against Herman and his PPP faction for his attempt to leak the money politics scandal behind the deputy gubernatorial election. You know that the PDI Perjuangan and Golkar factions were staunch supporters of Paku Alam's victory in the election," a legislator, who asked for anonymity, told The Jakarta Post.

Herman's rivalry with several other top figures within PPP may mean more bad luck for him.

The PPP has not made any moves to protect him, and the deputy chairman of the party's provincial branch, Syukri Fadholi, is playing an active role in gathering evidence on the scandal.

The party's investigation team, led by Syukri, discovered a bank transfer slip that disclosed a transfer of Rp 150 million from PT Adhi Karya's bank account at Bank Mandiri to Herman's private account at Bank Bali.

Herman said he had received a total of Rp 150 million in his bank account from an unknown sender, but claimed he returned the funds.

The investigation into the Jogja Expo Center scandal by the Yogyakarta Provincial Prosecutor's Office is in progress. It declared Herman and Duljiman, the director of the local office of the state-owned construction company PT Adhi Karya, suspects in the case last month. It has pledged to summon all 33 members of the council for questioning in the two cases.

"The investigation's progress at the Yogyakarta Provincial Prosecutor's Office is amazing. This kind of corruption case is usually difficult to track with our legal system," Teguh Purnomo, the coordinator of an independent investigation team on the two scandals, told the Post.

A source at the legislative council said Herman had distributed money to some 20 legislators.

Whether the two scandals will be brought to trial remains a question. If it is, the court will have to think hard about indicting the two suspects due to the many binding political interests.

"What we are all afraid of is Herman's tendency for revenge if he is found guilty. He can make other legislators involved in both scandals," the provincial administration secretary, Bambang S. Priyohadi, said.

"It's true that legislators have frequently disgruntled us with their arrogance," he added.

Yogyakarta Governor Hamengku Buwono X spoke in defense of Duljiman and PT Adhi Karya. "We are deeply indebted by what Adhi Karya has done for the people of Yogyakarta and its help in upgrading the JEC building," he said previously.

Another top official at the provincial administration said Adhi Karya should not be charged with participation in the case because the company had been under pressure from legislators to allegedly pay out a bribe to win the project.

Bambang further said the alleged involvement of Adhi Karya in the scandal had put it at risk of losing Rp 1.6 trillion worth of contracts in Palembang, Medan, and Padang in Sumatra from the Japan Banking for International Cooperation (JBIC).

The scandals have hurt the provincial legislature's legitimacy and brought it to its lowest level. "We are suspicious of each other. Communication among the legislators has been disrupted as some chairmen from the legislative commissions have refused to preside over their meetings," council deputy speaker Nur Achmad Affandi said.