Kendari councillors booked for graft
Kendari councillors booked for graft
Hasrul, The Jakarta Post/Kendari
Defying protests, prosecutors here on Friday night arrested
almost all members of the Kendari legislative council charged
with involvement in a Rp 1 billion (US$106,382) graft case.
Twenty-two of the 25 councillors were taken at around 9:30
p.m. to the Punggolaka Penitentiary in Kendari, the capital city
of Southeast Sulawesi province, shortly after being grilled for
hours in connection with the scam.
The remaining three councillors from the military and police
faction -- Rusli Rais, Hery Mulyono and Sukarso -- were not
charged by the prosecutors, instead the prosecutors asked their
respective commanding officers to investigate them.
Chief of the Kendari Prosecutor's Office Yayan Hartawan said
the detention of the 22 councillors was done so they could more
easily be questioned in the ongoing investigation.
"We just want to abide by the law," he said, explaining the
reason for his decision to arrest the councillors, which was met
by protests fro the councillors' supporters.
It is common practice to detain graft suspects to prevent them
from fleeing the country. However, prosecutors often let some
public figures remain free during trial, on the presumption that
they are too well known to escape detection.
Earlier in the morning, hundreds of people demonstrated in
front of the Kendari Prosecutor's Office to demand that it drop
its plan to detain the local legislators for corruption.
Alighting from trucks and minibuses, the protesters descended
upon the prosecutor's office and blocked the front gate.
From there, the protesters took turns making speeches, and
lashing out at the prosecutors' plan to detain the councillors.
Some protesters burned a used tire, which created tension in the
area.
Protest leaders called out the Kendari Prosecutor's Office
chief's name, demanding that he come out to meet the protesters.
The demand went unheeded.
In their speeches, the protesters demanded that the
prosecutors not detain the councillors, saying that they had not
yet been proven guilty.
"The councillors are our representatives. If they are
detained, we should be detained as well," shouted Rudy, a
protester. The police monitored the noisy protest.
Abdul Rachman, lawyer for the 22 councillors, said earlier on
Friday he was in the process of ensuring that his clients would
not be detained.
There was no legal reason for the prosecutors to hold the
councillors, because they were cooperative during the
investigation, he argued.
"I can guarantee that our clients will not flee, destroy
evidence or repeat wrongdoings. I don't understand why they have
been detained," Abdul said.
However, the prosecutors did not listen to the lawyer's
arguments and issued arrest warrants for the 22 councillors later
in the day after negotiations with their families.
After hearing that the councillors were being taken to prison,
the protesting supporters attempted to block the vehicles.
However, police dispersed the demonstrators after a clash,
Antara reported.
Many regional councils across Indonesia are facing graft
probes, with many members currently on trial and others named as
suspects.
A few months ago, 43 of the 55 West Sumatra legislative
council members were jailed by the Padang District Court for
corruption. They remain free however, pending appeals.