JP/7/yogya

Prosecutors to soon quiz councillor over bribe

Asip A. Hasani The Jakarta Post Yogyakarta

The Yogyakarta prosecutor's office said on Tuesday that Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno has given it permission to question a senior local legislator charged with role-playing in a bribery case in the Jogja Expo Center (JEC) project.

Herman Abdurrahman, chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) faction in the provincial legislative council, has been named as a suspect in the Rp 150 million scandal.

Such ministerial permission is required under prevailing law to question legislators linked to any crimes.

On Tuesday, the office received "approval from Pak Hari -- only few days before I retire," head of the province's prosecutor's office Hantoro Sumaryo told The Jakarta Post.

He will retire on Sunday, and his post will temporarily be taken over by his deputy, Edward Pasaribu.

Hantoro said that his office would summon Herman after it receives technical assistance from the Attorney General's Office in Jakarta. He declined to elaborate.

"I hope we will have obtained a technical assistance by Friday, so Pak Herman will face questioning on Saturday," he said.

Director of Yogyakarta's state-run construction firm PT Adhi Karya Duljiman was also declared a suspect in the Rp 150 million bribe for the council's political support to the last disbursement of the JEC development funds, totaling Rp 9 million from the provincial administration to his company.

The Rp 42.5 billion-project was financed by the Yogyakarta provincial administration, and the central government.

Herman was charged with receiving the bribe from Duljiman.

Under strong pressure from his PPP, Herman admitted last month that he had received the money from an unknown sender in his account in Bank Bali on Jan. 4 and Jan. 9.

He claimed to have sent the money back to the sender's bank account in Bank Mandiri on Jan. 15.

The finding by a PPP investigation team, however, showed Herman just returned back the money to the sender on Feb. 15.

"In corruption cases, returning bribes can only lighten the court's penalty, no more than that," Hantoro said.

He said that Herman's questioning was aimed partly to find out if he distributed the money to his fellow legislators or not.

"We have plenty of evidence to name Herman as suspect, and to bring him to court. But we need to know if there are any other legislators involved in the case," Hantoro said.

Separately, Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X said he hopes that the probe into the JEC scandal would proceed smoothly, despite Hantoro's retirement.

Provincial councillors are also accused of a separate political scandal involving Rp 1 billion over last year's vice gubernatorial election.

Legislator Budi Dewantoro revealed last month that he had received Rp 35 million from a fellow councillor, who persuaded him to support Prince Anglingkusumo in the race.

Anglingkusumo was, however, defeated by his step brother Paku Alam IX, who is also sultan of the Paku Alaman palace.