JP/7/graft

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.